


Sea Change

by dreamerfreak



Series: Something Rich and Strange [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Body Horror, Don't copy to another site, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Merman Victor, Scientist Katsuki Yuuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:35:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 69,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22498288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamerfreak/pseuds/dreamerfreak
Summary: Yuuri Katsuki, dime-a-dozen marine biologist, has finally graduated with his doctorate and has no idea what to do with it. Until he's approached by a strange woman with a stranger story. Next thing Yuuri knows, he's infiltrating a cryptid research organization with instructions to keep an eye out for sentient cryptids that might be being held captive. But he never expected Specimen V527, aka Victor.Yuuri is absolutely positive that Victor is intelligent, despite what his new boss says, and he desperately wants to help the merman escape. But when his contact starts acting strangely, Yuuri begins wondering who he can actually trust. As he and Victor slowly learn to communicate, Yuuri struggles to find a way to rescue them both from the increasingly dangerous situation they've found themselves in. With two different organizations trying to keep their claws in Victor and a dubious cast of allies to assist, will Yuuri be able to find a new home for Victor... and then let him go?[Completed; updates Mondays]
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Series: Something Rich and Strange [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618690
Comments: 724
Kudos: 566
Collections: Chaos Collection 2019





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, lovelies! Thank you for giving my self-indulgent little fic a chance. Sea Change was my NaNoWriMo 2019 project and it is completed at roughly 70k words. New chapters will be posted on Mondays, because we all need a little pick-me-up on Mondays.
> 
> The original idea for this story was sparked by this lovely artwork by Saata. Please go give it some much deserved love! https://twitter.com/saata545/status/1085453380233834496
> 
> All my gratitude goes to Rae, who alpha'd and beta'd for me and gave me much needed validation. More thanks goes to Kaz's chaos server, without whom I wouldn't have got up the courage to post this. Y'all are the best.
> 
> CW: Victor's been through a lot in this AU, mainly neglect and dehumanization, but most of this occurs before the story starts. Don't worry; Yuuri's here to make things better! (Each chapter will have content warnings in the note, but no major triggers are included in this work.)

Full fathom five thy father lies;  
Of his bones are coral made;  
Those are pearls that were his eyes:  
Nothing of him that doth fade  
But doth suffer a sea-change  
Into something rich and strange.  
~ _The Tempest_ , William Shakespeare

sea change: _noun_ : a marked change; a transformation

~*~

_“Dr. Katsuki, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve heard a great many things about you.”_

~*~

The lobby of Selma Corp seemed bigger than Yuuri remembered from his visit a week prior. He knew, _logically_ , that it was just nerves getting to him on his first day, but that didn’t stop the ceilings from stretching higher and the walls from pulling away, leaving him stranded in the middle of a bland desert of short-nap carpet and uncomfortable waiting room chairs.

He approached the reception desk with as much confidence as he could muster and opened his mouth to introduce himself, but never got the chance.

“Dr. Katsuki! It’s so good to see you back. I have your paperwork right here.” The perky woman behind the counter shuffled through one of her multiple stacks of files before she uncovered a dark blue one, labeled in bold marker with “Katsuki Y.” She passed it over the desk to him and Yuuri managed to not fumble it before setting his coffee cup down on the counter momentarily.

“That has your security badge and some orientation paperwork in it. Ms. Saunders is expecting you in her office for the rest of the forms you need to fill out. Do you still remember the way?”

“I… yes,” Yuuri said, tucking the folder away in his shoulder bag after slinging the badge around his neck. “Um, yes, I remember. Thank you.”

She smiled brightly at him. He was sure that he had been introduced to her when he was here the other day to accept the job offer, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember her name. “Of course, Dr. Katsuki. Have a good first day!”

He nodded stiffly and started toward the security entrance.

“Oh, Dr. Katsuki!”

He flinched and turned back around quickly. “Ah, yes?”

“Your coffee,” she said with a gentle smile, gesturing to his cup still sitting on the edge of the counter.

Yuuri could feel the blush crawling up to his ears, but he thanked her with a small, habitual bow and retrieved his coffee.

Past the security entrance, the building became even more clinical, if possible. The floors were now shiny linoleum and the walls stark white with gray accents. Despite this, Yuuri felt immediately more comfortable. This was reminiscent of his many years in university science buildings, the one place where he had felt like he might fit in. He made his way past closed office doors and storage closets to the office of his new boss, Madelyn Saunders, Director of Operations at Selma Corp.

Her office door was slightly ajar, but he still knocked carefully on the door frame. He entered at her brusque request, and with minimal fanfare they settled down to more piles of paperwork, most of which he had to stuff into his already full shoulder bag. He had thought they had completed most of the paperwork last week, but clearly he had underestimated the amount of NDAs a company of this type would require. He felt panic rising a little bit as he signed and initialed a full packet detailing all the ways in which he was _not_ allowed to talk about his work here, and all the ways that they could and would punish him if he did, but he shoved it stubbornly down to worry about later. He had made this decision already, and it was too late to back out now.

When the paperwork was done, they moved on to the IT department. There, his badge was coded to get him into more restricted areas and he was given log-in information with _strict_ instructions to immediately change it to something secure, and to absolutely _not_ write it down anywhere. Yuuri got the feeling that this was a common lecture, so he merely nodded along and accepted even more papers and his newly updated badge.

Finally they arrived at the elevator. He knew that this was where things really happened. The entire ground floor of the building consisted of the innocuous offices of management, administration, and IT—the people who didn’t need to have hands-on access to the specimens. The basement levels were where things got interesting. At Ms. Saunders’ direction, he swiped his badge and punched the button for B1 on the dash.

When the elevator doors opened again, Yuuri felt instantly overwhelmed by the chaos. The massive open space was filled with desks and file cabinets, haphazard arrangements of all sorts of testing equipment, and small groups of lab-coated people gesturing and talking too loudly in the echoing space. Ms. Saunders stepped into the fray and scanned quickly for something, soon picking out a young man with blond and red-dyed hair walking by. “Minami!”

“Yes, ma’am!” he called out, spinning to face them. “Oh, Dr. Katsuki!”

Yuuri startled back a step, nearly bumping into the closed elevator doors as Minami advanced on them. Unlike the receptionist earlier, he was positive he hadn’t meet this person before. He would have remembered a force of nature with a shock of bright red hair on his forehead.

Minami grabbed his hand and shook it with enthusiasm. “Dr. Katsuki, it’s so good to meet you! I’ve been a fan for years! I almost went into marine biology because of you, but I ended up specializing in wildlife biology instead and—”

Ms. Saunders pointedly cleared her throat, and Minami froze for a second before finally letting go of Yuuri’s hand. “Right. Anyway, I’m Kenjirou Minami. What can I do for you, Ms. Saunders?”

“Would you mind giving Dr. Katsuki a tour of the shared facilities, please? And call me when you’re done.”

Without waiting for a response, she turned and swiped her own badge for the elevator.

“Oh,” Yuuri said quietly, watching as the elevator doors closed. Then he turned back to his tour guide. “Minami. It’s nice to meet you.”

Minami smiled again, a bright thing that might be infectious if Yuuri couldn’t still feel the anxiety worming through his guts. “It’s good to meet you too! I’m so excited that you’ll be working here, even if we won’t really get to work _together_.”

“So… what do you do here, Minami?”

And with that question, Minami started talking and didn’t stop. After the first two minutes, Yuuri’s mind tried to shut off in self-defense at the overload of information. He let himself tune most of it out, but tried to pay attention when Minami introduced him to a variety of coworkers and explained where various equipment was located that he might need to use later. Fortunately, Minami didn’t seem to mind, or notice, that his responses were limited to one-word answers and vaguely affirmative noises.

When they passed a dog sitting patiently by a lab table with a researcher carefully processing some sort of biological sample, Yuuri couldn’t help but interrupt Minami’s endless spiel. Kneeling down, Yuuri carefully extended his hand to the dog to sniff. “ _Hello, puppy_ ,” he murmured in Japanese. “ _Aren’t you just a precious puppy. Yes, look at that soft fur. Yes, can I touch it? Oh, you’re such a good boy._ ”

Before he even knew what happened, Yuuri was on the floor half buried under at least 150 pounds of… some breed he had never seen before. Its fur was pitch-black without even a hint of gray or brown and its eyes were bright red, but it panted in happiness at ear scratches just like any other dog Yuuri had ever met.

“Um, Dr. Katsuki?”

Yuuri finally looked up from giving the dog all the love it deserved to notice a small group of researchers gathered around him, staring down with wide eyes.

Minami waved his hands anxiously, as if resisting the urge to reach out. “Bravo doesn’t really… like people that much. Usually. Um.”

“Oh,” Yuuri mumbled, blinking up at him, still giving scratches without thought. “But he seems so sweet?”

“Yes… he, um, does.” Minami watched with wide eyes for a minute longer and then carefully untangled one of Yuuri’s hands from Bravo’s fur to help him up. “Anyway, we’d better continue with the tour.”

Yuuri let himself be pulled away from the dog with only a little bit of reluctance. He supposed he should feel embarrassed about acting so unprofessionally on his first day, but as Bravo whined quietly behind him, he decided that dogs were more important than professional behavior anyway.

“So, Bravo? I’m surprised you name specimens,” Yuuri said, resisting the urge to turn back around and reassure the dog that he would be back later with more pets… and maybe a treat. “He is a specimen, isn’t he?”

“Oh yeah,” Minami said, his usual cheer quickly coming back. “That’s specimen B753. Commonly known as a black dog, among other things. A few years ago, one of the researchers who was former military started using the NATO phonetic alphabet for all the specimens. There’s a word for every letter of the alphabet. Bravo is for B. Anyway, he’s not dangerous or anything, which is why he’s allowed out when they’re doing samples and tests and stuff, but he… likes his space.” Minami eyed Yuuri carefully, but Yuuri just nodded, though he still planned to give that poor puppy some treats later. He probably didn’t get nearly enough scratches.

The tour continued for a while longer, during which Yuuri also met a rabbit with a tiny (and adorable) set of antlers named Juliett and some bird/lizard creature with large serrated teeth (but which still looked adorable) named Lima. Most of the specimens were kept in habitats that ringed the first basement level, fronted with glass doors, but the friendliest ones sometimes roamed the main floor.

Finally they circled back around to the elevator where they had begun. Minami had called Ms. Saunders to let her know that they had finished their tour, but Yuuri still hadn’t seen the area where he would be working. After all, he was a marine biologist, and there weren’t any aquatic creatures on this level. When he asked, Minami gave a laugh that seemed forced. “Oh yeah. Well, that part of the facility has a higher security clearance. None of us here on this floor have even seen specimen V527. Only Ms. Saunders and Mr. Bains have access to that level. And now you!”

“V527? That’s the specimen I’m going to be working with?” Yuuri asked. Ms. Saunders had been very cagey thus far regarding what exactly he was going to be doing. All he knew was that the specimen had been found somewhere in the Pacific.

“Yeah, we call it Victor, of course.” Minami waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the entire floor, and Yuuri inferred that this must be the name that went with the letter V. “But nobody actually knows what it looks like. I know you won’t be able to tell us what it is or anything, but—!” Minami made some kind of excited flailing with his hands. “It’s still so cool! You’re so lucky, Dr. Katsuki.”

Before Yuuri could figure out how to respond to that, the elevator doors slid open and Ms. Saunders was there, gesturing him in. Yuuri gave Minami a quick goodbye and joined Ms. Saunders in the elevator. Unlike Minami, Ms. Saunders did not feel the need to fill the silence, and the sixty second elevator ride stretched far too long.

The lighting in the second-level basement was dimmer than on the first-level, and it took Yuuri a moment to realize what he was staring at as the doors slid open. It was an absolutely massive aquarium tank. It took up a good three-quarters of the floor space and stretched at least fifteen feet high, and Yuuri knew it must hold tens of thousands of gallons of water. What in the world were they holding that needed a tank of this size?

Ms. Saunders wasn’t waiting for his awe to subside, and Yuuri quickly followed her deeper into the room. There was much less equipment than upstairs, but he had his own spacious work area as well as a bank of computer screens and two stuffed-full file cabinets to call his own. She watched over his shoulder as he logged in to the computer system and turned her back as he changed his password as instructed.

It didn’t take long before the only thing left to look at was the tank and its inhabitant. Up close the tank seemed to tower. Thick PVC pipes sprouted from the sides and curved toward the back of the room, filters humming arrhythmically. Even in the dim lighting, Yuuri was dismayed at the condition the habitat appeared to be in. Not knowing what kind of animal was in the tank, it was hard to guess what the environment should be like, but the heavy, green-tinted water was undoubtedly not it.

He placed one hand against the glass and was contemplating where to start with his questions, when Ms. Saunders stepped up beside him and rapped imperiously on the side of the tank. Yuuri startled back a half step, jerking his hand away, but simply watched as Ms. Saunders’ usually stern expression deepened into a frown. “It knows it’s supposed to come when summoned,” she muttered, then reached toward a control panel that Yuuri hadn’t noticed yet and tapped at the touchpad briefly. There was a faint crackling noise as she did so, and Yuuri thought he caught sight of a flash of light out of the corner of his eye, but it was gone before he could be sure.

Moments later, something swam out of the murky water toward the front of the tank. It was big, much bigger than Yuuri had anticipated. In fact, it was probably larger than he was. It hovered for a moment several meters away, mostly hidden in the murky water, then came closer, drifting to the bottom of the tank to be at roughly Ms. Saunders’ and Yuuri’s eye level.

It was… amazing. The first word that came to Yuuri’s mind was “mermaid,” but this creature only shared a passing familiarity with the Disney-washed creatures of cultural consciousness. It was pale, with white skin and shimmery blue-ish scales on its lower half. Ragged, uneven lengths of silver-white hair billowed around its head, and it shoved some strands impatiently aside as it turned to look at Yuuri directly for a moment. Bright blue eyes, slightly too large for a human, glared through the glass for just a second before it drifted lazily to the side, pointedly not looking at either of them. Almost like it was angry.

Yuuri’s heart stuttered in his chest for a beat or two. Shit, he thought dazedly, maybe NuHuman was right about everything after all. Maybe there really were intelligent creatures being kept here. And one of them was right in front of him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mention this last time, but in case it's not obvious... I am not a marine biologist, nor a scientist of any flavor. I did my best with a little bit of google and a lot of hand-waving. Please don't think is accurate in any way. 😅
> 
> CW: This chapter contains a brief scene of electrocution/electric shock torture and detailed descriptions of and treatment of injuries.

_“You really expect me to believe that creatures like that exist? Creatures from stories meant to scare children? I’m… not sure why you asked me here, but if it’s just to insult me, I—”_

_“Dr. Katsuki, please. If you want proof, I can give you proof. It is not a matter of belief. But the fact of the matter is, some of these creatures are not truly_ creatures _. They are people, with thoughts and reasoning and feelings. And we think you can help.”_

~*~

Yuuri couldn’t stop his instinctive reach toward the glass. Mere inches away from him was something that he had never imagined he would see. A myth brought to life. And it was stunning.

_Mermaid_ , Yuuri realized as he continued to watch it, might not be the best name for it. It had no visible genitals (which Yuuri was both unsurprised and grateful for), but it lacked breasts as well. Fish, of course, didn’t have mammary glands at all, but this specimen did at least have nipples, so perhaps it was a mammal? And male? But no, Yuuri instantly corrected himself. He could spy gill flaps just below the merperson’s waist, where its… hips would be if it had legs. If it couldn’t breathe air, it wasn’t a mammal. But with the size of its chest… Did it have lungs as well? It truly looked like a hybrid just as myth would have it, as illogical as that was in reality.

It— _he_ , Yuuri decided, at least for now—he turned toward Yuuri again, moving those precious few inches closer to the glass, and pressed his own hand against it. Then he curled his fingers, showing off inch-long nails tapering to sharp points. Yuuri couldn’t help but notice the thin webbing that stretched between his fingers, the way two of his nails were broken off and discolored. Then the merman dragged his claws against the glass and bared his teeth, and Yuuri yanked his hand away from the glass.

Ms. Saunders made a soft “tsk” noise and commented, “Still aggressive, I see. We’ve always had problems with it. That’s why we had to install the electrical shock module eventually.” She gestured casually at the panel that she had used a few minutes ago. “Behavioral training, if you will. A little punishment goes a long way. Plus, it was just impossible to get it out of the tank. Now, whenever you need samples, just adjust the settings like so…” She manipulated the touchscreen quickly, and Yuuri watched in a kind of dazed horror as the light he had seen earlier flashed through the tank and the merman’s body went into a stiff spasm, spine curling backward in an arch and gills flaring wide.

Yuuri’s eyes snapped to Ms. Saunders, but she watched passively, tapping her nails against the side of the panel until whatever time elapsed that she deemed necessary. She tapped the screen again, and the high-pitched whining that Yuuri hadn’t even noticed abruptly cut off. In the tank, the merman’s body went slack and began to drift toward the surface.

“Temporary paralysis. Makes retrieving samples much easier. This way.” She turned and walked toward the side of the tank without waiting for a response.

Yuuri followed her without thought, too busy trying to hide his horror at the casual cruelty he’d just witnessed. She’d just _electrocuted_ him without any hesitation. Even if she was comfortable ignoring the trauma and pain she was inflicting, that kind of treatment could easily break bones, or even his spine. Didn’t she care about his value as a specimen, if nothing else?

The entirety of the tank was surrounded by scaffolding, a broad catwalk ringing the upper edge. On the right side, there was also a massive lift, a large platform that elevated right up to the top of the tank, and Ms. Saunders ignored the stairs for the time being, instead directing Yuuri onto it. She deftly managed the controls to ease them to a halt at the edge of the tank. A modified gurney, with sides that were six inches high and a plugged drain in the bottom, was already there, pushed up to the edge of the tank. Heavy velcro straps hung loosely from the sides, and Yuuri didn’t have to guess what they were for. Ms. Saunders was speaking as she retrieved a long pole with a hook on the end from the stack of equipment that littered the platform, but Yuuri couldn’t focus on the words. All he could do was watch numbly as she prodded at the pale, limp form that floated barely submerged a few meters away, and dragged it closer with the pole. With hands that shook only a little bit, he helped her drag the merman over the edge of the tank and onto the gurney. She efficiently strapped him down and stepped back, grabbing a towel to dry off with.

She sighed deeply as she handed the towel over to Yuuri, and he blinked hard to try to focus on her again. “Like I said before,” she said, “it’s known to be aggressive, so always use the straps as a precaution. Even out of water, it can be surprisingly fast once it wakes up again, although its range of motion is pretty limited, of course.” She looked at him expectantly, and Yuuri nodded and murmured a soft affirmative, before looking back down at the merman, now exposed and vulnerable in front of him.

Yuuri’s gaze immediately caught on a stripe of fuzzy green growth down the side of his tail. “Oh, he’s injured,” he said softly, leaning closer but being careful not to touch.

“Well, this was only supposed to be a demonstration, but if you’d rather have it out for a while instead of putting it back in the tank, that’s fine. It’s your responsibility now, after all.”

“Oh, ah.” Yuuri looked back up at Ms. Saunders. “Yes, I think… that is, taking care of this will help me get more familiar with… specimen V and the supplies I have here.”

She merely nodded at him and fiddled with the lift controls again to lower them. At the bottom, she demonstrated the plumbing system that allowed water to be drained from the tank and into the gurney and they filled it with a couple inches of water, just enough to cover most of the merman’s gills and keep him somewhat damp in the outside air.

To Yuuri’s relief, Ms. Saunders didn’t seem interested in showing Yuuri more than the basics of the lab. She informed him that he would have a few days to accustom himself to his lab and file requisitions before she would start expecting reports. Yuuri was a bit worried about the “requisitions” part of that comment, because the state of the tank was atrocious, but he was too anxious for her to leave to bring it up now. He supposed he’d find out how much of a budget she was willing to allow once he started sending in his requests.

When the elevator doors shut behind her, Yuuri rushed back to the gurney where the merman was waiting. He was awake now and struggling weakly against the straps that kept him pinned down. He bared his teeth at Yuuri, and his nails scrabbled at the hard plastic of the gurney to no effect. Something in the pit of Yuuri’s stomach twisted hard at the sight of the enraged and scared person in front of him, but he didn’t have time to deal with it right now. So many things were wrong with this situation, but the only thing Yuuri knew for sure he could fix was the nasty wound the merman had. Specimen V527. Victor.

_Victor._

Yuuri left Victor alone on the gurney for a few more minutes, instead raiding the assorted cabinets for supplies. He gathered a haphazard pile of useful items and made his way back to Victor. He seemed a little calmer now, not struggling against the straps, although his nails still scratched at the plastic as Yuuri approached. Yuuri arranged his supplies on a tray next to him and pulled on a pair of nitrile gloves. There hadn’t been any sort of local anesthetic hiding in a supply cabinet, but even if there had been, it could be dangerous to use without knowing what kind of effect it might have on Victor.

Yuuri took a moment to study the merman in front of him more closely. The gaping wound that slashed across his lower abdomen and into the scaled flesh of his tail wasn’t the only injury. Small dots and patches of algae were growing along his arms. His ribs showed through his skin, and he didn’t appear to have even an extra ounce of fat anywhere on him. Even for a warm-water aquatic animal, that was unusual, and Yuuri made a mental note to check the water temperature as soon as possible. And to figure out what they were feeding him, because he was clearly undernourished.

“Um. Hi Victor.” Yuuri swallowed hard as he stared down at the merman. “I’m Yuuri. I… I can’t promise that this won’t hurt. But I’m going to take care of you.”

Victor didn’t react to the words at all, still glaring at Yuuri and occasionally shifting restlessly on the gurney. Of course not, Yuuri berated himself. He might not even _understand_ English, let alone be able to speak. Merpeople undoubtedly had their own way of communicating. But Yuuri took a deep breath to brace himself and said again, “I’m going to take care of you, I promise.” And then he began.

It was a long process. Victor was covered in bits of plant matter, and Yuuri had to take special care to wash it all off with clean water before he could do anything or else risk the bacterial and algal infections simply staying. Like all fish, Victor was covered in a thin layer of mucus, but too much rough handling had left bare patches where opportunistic growths had slipped in. With a scalpel, and trying desperately to ignore the way Victor twitched and flinched beneath his hands, Yuuri excised a stubborn bit of fungus and washed the patch of skin clean of contaminants, before liberally smearing a layer of artificial slime on top to protect it. The fact that Victor wasn’t producing enough on his own to cover the patches of skin and scale was yet another sign that Victor wasn’t eating well.

Slowly and conscientiously, Yuuri moved from patch to patch. At one point he looked up only to notice that Victor was blinking hard, his nictitating membranes occasionally opening and closing as well, and Yuuri adjusted the gurney so that Victor’s face was positioned directly under the shower head attachment, and turned the spigot on to a slow drip. Victor immediately turned his face toward the gentle flow, and Yuuri focused back on his work, purposefully losing himself in the rhythm of it.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been by the time he finished with all the small wounds. There were spots of slime on his face that he could feel slowly drying to an itch. Victor was lying completely still on the gurney, watching Yuuri closely when he looked up, but Yuuri wasn’t sure how to interpret the expression on his face. Even not knowing, he tried desperately not to feel guilty about it. This was different from taking care of animals at school, but he couldn’t let that stop him from getting Victor the help he needed right now. He stepped back and stretched his back, taking in the full sight of Victor for the first time in what felt like hours. Clean, and covered in an uneven layer of fresh slime, he looked even paler than before. His scales shimmered a pale, muted aqua. Veins showed through his skin so clearly that Yuuri could almost see his pulse in them. His nails had a dark vein running through them as well, and the tips of the broken ones had been stained dark with blood that leaked into the surrounding keratin.

And slashed across his waist was the worst injury yet.

Yuuri had trouble imagining what could have happened to cut Victor so deeply. Considering the state of malnutrition that he was in and the awful environment of the tank, it was a miracle that Victor had survived this long. With an open wound like that, he would have been dead in a matter of hours in the open ocean. But even in his relatively safe habitat, that the infection hadn’t killed him yet was near miraculous.

The wound gaped open obscenely, the flesh separated as widely as an inch and a half toward the middle. Small green things had begun sprouting out of the gap, tentative flushes of slimy algae, climbing multicolored fungi, frond-like aquatic plants. The edges of the wound were inflamed, and Yuuri could see places where growths had been ripped out, the remaining ends shredded, but despite whatever Victor tried to do to get rid of the infection, it still persisted. It had to be taken out by the roots, unfortunately.

Yuuri started with a small pair of scissors, trimming away the growth as closely to flesh as he could. That done, he started at one end of the wound and began trimming away with the scalpel. Some of the flesh underneath had gone white—necrotic. He carefully trimmed away at it until he reached healthy pink. Before long, pinkish blood started dripping from the edges of the gash. He rinsed it with clean water and continued. In the back of his mind, he noticed the way the flesh under his hand flinched away from every little cut, but he forced himself to ignore it, packing away the shivery feeling that settled into his gut. By the time he reached the opposite end of the gash, leaving nothing but dark pink, bleeding muscle behind, his back ached and his stomach was twisting.

The stitches went quickly, at least. By some stroke of luck, a package of dissolvable stitches had been tucked away in a drawer, and Yuuri put his meager sewing skills to work. The result was messy, but the wound was no longer gaping open and should heal a little bit faster.

He straightened up, leaning back in an arch to attempt to loosen the kinks in his back, and finally allowed himself to expand his focus beyond the details of the injury in front of him.

Victor was making noises, tiny keening whimpery noises. His claws scraped uselessly against the plastic of the gurney. The tendons in his neck went tight with each inhale of breath he took. Yuuri couldn’t stop the cringe that crossed his face, seeing the pain he had just caused Victor. But he knew there was no other choice. Already, the soft sounds were tapering off. To give Victor another minute to collect himself, Yuuri changed his gloves, which were covered in a mixture of blood, tissue, and shreds of plant, and cleaned up most of his supplies. When he turned back with a new pair of gloves and a fresh jar of slime, Victor had turned his head to the side but seemed calmer. Gently, Yuuri smeared a thick layer of slime over the open wound, ignoring Victor’s shivers. He’d have to do Victor’s backside at some point, but he had caused enough pain for now.

Victor inhaled deeply one last time and blew it out roughly in an almost-sigh when Yuuri pulled his hand away. And it was only then that Yuuri thought to wonder about that.

Victor was _breathing_. He had fully functioning lungs. And judging by the sounds he had been making a few minutes ago, he had vocal chords as well and was probably capable of speech, even if it would be mostly useless underwater. A small thrill of excitement and curiosity pushed up in Yuuri’s chest, but he stubbornly shoved it down. Victor had been through enough today. Even if the possibility that they could learn to communicate, to _talk_ , with each other was exciting, it was something that could wait. There were much larger priorities to be taken care of right now. And the first was to get Victor back in his tank.

Yuuri stripped off his gloves and moved to examine the controls for the lift. They weren’t too complicated, luckily, since he had been paying little attention when Ms. Saunders was using them earlier, and he managed to get them back up to the top of the tank, even if the ride was a bit jerkier than before. Once there, he had a dilemma. If there was some easy way to get Victor back in the tank, Ms. Saunders didn’t show him. And even if there was, knocking him out again was the last thing that Yuuri wanted to do.

Instead he double-checked that the gurney was level with the tank and right up against the edge, and that all the wheels were locked. Then he took a step back. “Victor, um.”

Victor was looking at him from the corner of his eye, but otherwise didn’t react. Of course, it wasn’t like Victor was actually his _real_ name either.

“I’m going to unstrap you, okay? And then you can just… flop on into the tank.” Yuuri winced at his own words, but it somehow made him feel better to explain what he was doing, even though he knew that Victor couldn’t understand him. He couldn’t imagine that anyone had bothered to talk _to_ Victor anytime lately. At least Yuuri could treat Victor like a person.

“So, um…” Hesitantly, Yuuri reached out and undid the lowest strap. Victor’s tail immediately slapped against the gurney, spraying dirty water everywhere. Yuuri jerked backward instinctively, but couldn’t help the small giggle that popped out. When Yuuri wiped his glasses clean, Victor was looking straight at him, something impatient and anxious etched on his face, eyes wide and lips tight.

Yuuri pulled off the next strap and the next, freeing Victor from the waist down, then hesitated at his hands. He glanced up again to look at Victor, who was squirming with impatience. “Just… don’t hurt me, please?” Even damaged, those claws could be deadly. He yanked off the strap and took a quick step back.

Victor’s hand jerked up and out, claws curled threateningly, but he didn’t try to catch Yuuri. They both froze for a moment, and then Victor was scrabbling with the remaining straps, the one across his shoulders and pinning down his opposite hand. He shifted into a lounging sit and stared at Yuuri wide-eyed. His gills were out of the water completely, but Victor didn’t appear to notice, panting lightly through his nose. He glanced behind himself to the tank and without fanfare, threw himself off the gurney, sinking with a massive splash into the dark water.

Before he lowered the lift again, Yuuri set an open container of fresh slime on the thick edge of the tank. Just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna go briefly FF.net old school to say: OMG YOU GUYS I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE ALL SO NICE??? ALL YOUR COMMENTS AND KUDOS AND SUBSCRIBES GIVE ME LIFE AND I HOPE YOU LOVE THE STORY 😭😭😭😭💖💖💖💖💖💖


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Victor gets a _wee_ bit violent, but no one is hurt!
> 
> If anyone thinks I need to add a tag or CW, please let me know! You can leave a comment here or come find me on twitter at @lexical_dreamer

_“We’ve been tracking Selma Corp’s activities for some time now. At this point we’re very confident that they are holding sentient cryptids captive. These people deserve to be free, but we have no proof, no way to get the authorities involved, no justification for any actions we might take.”_

_“But what could I do about that? I… I’m just a marine biologist. Nothing special.”_

_“We need information, Dr. Katsuki. Inside information. And I believe you are the perfect person for that.”_

~*~

It was late by the time Yuuri left Selma’s labs that day. The lights on the ground floor had been dimmed and the muted sounds of life that had been there earlier in the day—phones ringing and keys tapping and people talking—were absent. The reception desk was empty, but a security guard near the entrance gave him a nod as he went past.

The day had been too full, too overwhelming, for Yuuri to process. He took the bus back to his apartment, fed himself a frozen dinner, and barely took the time to change into pajamas before he went to bed. His head felt too filled with thoughts for them to even twist and turn. He closed his eyes and fell asleep almost immediately.

In the morning, he completed his morning routine on autopilot and had to jog to catch the bus. By the time he made it to the office, he was starting to feel mostly awake, but his head was foggy. He rode the elevator down to the main lab with someone he had met yesterday but couldn’t remember the name of and made some sort of conversation he couldn’t recall seconds later. Once they disembarked, he swiped his badge again and pressed the button for B2.

When the door finally opened, it was still there. The massive tank loomed in front of him, just as demanding of attention as yesterday. He dropped his bag on the floor without noticing and walked straight toward it to lay a hand against the glass. The chill pushed back against his hand and he reminded himself to check into the water temperature.

_It’s real. Yesterday was real._

Victor _was real._

He didn’t knock on the glass, didn’t try to summon Victor when he didn’t need to see him other than to satisfy his own curiosity, but he stared into the depths of the tank for a few minutes just in case. Then he went over to the computer and logged in. Time to get familiar with the information they had.

It took hours, of course. If there was any sort of filing system for the paper printouts that were shoved into the filing cabinets, it was lost on Yuuri. The digitized information wasn’t much better, the database stuffed with subfolders within subfolders. It took him an hour and a great deal of creative keyword searching just to find what little information they had on Victor’s native habitat. It… wasn’t very helpful. They had almost no information other than where they found him in the Pacific Ocean, and they hadn’t tried to figure anything else out.

Eventually his stomach demanded that he take a break, and he found his way to the cafeteria, which he had managed to miss yesterday. It was nearly two o’clock, so the cafeteria was almost empty. Yuuri snagged some lukewarm soup and a soggy sandwich before finding a table by himself. One of the best perks of this job was that he didn’t have to share an office with anyone, and considering the information he had on Selma, he wasn’t about to make friends with anyone here. Eating alone was safer. And easier. His old roommate Phichit would undoubtedly be forcing him to find someone else to sit with right about now, but that was an extra complication that Yuuri didn’t want to deal with.

Having successfully avoided social interaction, Yuuri made his way back down to his lab. There was still so much to do.

The rest of the day was taken up in taking readings and scribbling down notes and drafting reports for Ms. Saunders. The tank environment was going to need a _major_ overhaul, preferably as soon as possible, so Yuuri had a lot of planning to do.

~*~

The rest of the week went much the same. Yuuri frantically scoured through what scattered information they had about Victor and began plotting a habitat for him. He wrote and rewrote the requisitions report for Ms. Saunders, trying to be as convincing as possible while asking for huge changes to be made. They were necessary changes. It was astounding that Victor had survived as long as he had, what with his injuries, horrible diet, atrocious environment, and nobody with any marine biology experience to care for him. He had discovered on Tuesday that they had been feeding him frozen fish for the past four months that he had been here. _Frozen fish!_

On Friday, he finally sent in the report to Ms. Saunders, detailing in great length precisely what he wanted to do to the tank, what supplies he would need, with estimated costs, and why each and every part of it was absolutely necessary. It was probably longer than she wanted, but he had included a four page summary as well, even if it didn’t sound nearly as convincing.

There would still be lots of adjustments to be made, Yuuri knew. But he had tried to plan a habitat that could be easily monitored and adjusted. With what little information Selma Corp had on Victor, there was no good way to plan an ideal habitat from the start. It would have to be a work in progress, probably for months, until he could understand what best made Victor happy and healthy. But a clean tank, with a balanced pH and ecosystem, was a good start.

After attaching the report and hitting send, Yuuri leaned back in his desk chair and took a full breath for the first time in what felt like days. It was out of his hands for the moment, and now all that was left was waiting.

At least he _would_ start receiving shipments of fresh fish on Monday. He cringed every time he dropped those cold, frozen bricks into the tank, but thankfully that would be over soon. He wasn’t even sure what Victor’s preferred diet might consist of, but fresh would be better than frozen. The frozen fish had probably contributed to Victor’s malnutrition, combined with the fact that it seemed like no one came most weekends to feed him. It made Yuuri feel a little sick, but he had already decided that he would be in every day to feed Victor, at least until he could get a stable, self-sustaining ecosystem established.

Standing up, he paced around his work area briefly. Over the course of the week, while digging through everything the previous scientists had haphazardly sorted and piled, Yuuri had managed to get things decently organized. The filing cabinets had been reordered with some logic and labeling in place. The supply cabinets had been organized and basic requisitions made. The surface of the desk had been cleaned off. It looked neat and tidy, and for the first time this week, Yuuri didn’t have something urgent hanging over his head.

His eyes wandered over to the duffel bag that he had brought in on Wednesday, still slumped against the wall, half-hidden behind his desk. He hadn’t touched it since he had dumped it there two mornings ago. With the most urgent report out of the way, he finally had time to use it.

He heaved the bag off the floor and onto his desk, yanking the zipper open. Inside was a full wetsuit and prescription goggles, as well as a small, short-use rebreather—some of Yuuri’s personal equipment. Although there was a sad mix of diving equipment in one of the tall cabinets, Yuuri wouldn’t trust any of it without giving it a thorough examination first. It had been easier to just bring his own. Besides, he didn’t want to go full SCUBA gear in the tank if he didn’t have to. Although he was already starting to regret his decision to bring the wetsuit rather than the bulkier drysuit. Even though he had adjusted the temperature controls on Tuesday morning, it would take weeks to bring the temperature to something more moderate. At least the draining, if it was approved, would accelerate that.

Even though there was almost no chance of someone with access to the lab coming down and Victor was nowhere in sight, Yuuri hid behind a couple of cabinets to change into his tight-fitting swim shorts and wetsuit. He slipped on a pair of booties and some gloves as well, then tucked his rebreather and goggles into an outside mesh pocket and went to gather his supplies.

There wasn’t much he needed to take. The tank was so overgrown with algae that it was impossible to see more than a few feet past the panels. The original plans, as disorganized as they were, could only tell him so much. Even if Ms. Saunders agreed with the plan to flush the tank and start fresh, he could get some baseline readings of how Victor was living now. If nothing else, this was a template of what _not_ to do.

Yuuri wasn’t sure how Victor would react to him being inside of the tank, in what had been his uncontested territory these past few months. He hoped that Victor would be too hesitant to even approach him, even though that thought also made his stomach clench tight. Maybe Yuuri trying to help him earlier in the week, and that he hadn’t tried to do anything since, would count in his favor. Either way, Yuuri had made his decision, and the samples could be very useful in the future.

Once he had gathered a mesh bag full of sample containers and slung it over his shoulder, Yuuri took the stairs to the catwalk circling the tank. The jar of slime he had left by the lift on Monday was almost half empty now, and he couldn’t help a small smile. He was glad that Victor was using it. Even if Yuuri hadn’t seen him since then, the slime would help speed up his healing process. After a quick shake of his limbs and a couple of stretches to loosen his muscles and warm up, Yuuri put the rebreather in his mouth, sat on the edge of the tank, pulled his goggles down, and rolled backward.

The water was _cold_. Not that Yuuri hadn’t been expecting it, but it stole his breath away the second he went under, and he had to clench his teeth down hard on the rebreather’s mouthpiece to keep from opening his mouth at the shock and losing it. A minute later, he managed to force his eyes open and stared upward through the murk as a cloud of bubbles rose around him. He took a moment to orient himself—he could see halos of light shining down from the overhead lights on the ceiling—and then swam deeper.

It didn’t take long to reach bottom, of course. The tank was only about fifteen feet deep. Not as deep as he would like for a creature of Victor’s size, to be honest, but it least it had a good-sized length and width. As soon as he touched bottom, he sank down to his haunches and pulled the first sample container out of his bag, popping it open with a rush of bubbles. He dug the lip of the container into the substrate of the aquarium and scooped up a pile of what looked to be sand and driveway gravel. He capped the container and shoved it back into his bag with a shake of his head.

Glancing around, Yuuri couldn’t make out any landmarks. All he could see was heavy green water and some remnants of plants floating by. There was a hint of a current, thanks to the (mostly ineffective) filtration system, but there was no life in the tank. As he had suspected, nothing actually lived in here except Victor and a massive amount of plant life. A completely ill-balanced ecosystem, and again Yuuri was amazed that Victor had lasted this long.

He moved slowly through the tank, unable to keep track of his location in any real sense. He stopped occasionally to pop open another container and gather more samples. A strangely dark patch of sand here, a few plant varieties there. The cold was creeping into his limbs steadily and he knew he was running out of time, even if he still had nearly a half-hour left before his watch would alert him that his rebreather was running low. Other than a couple of large rocks and one patch of gravel that had been built into a pile that Yuuri didn’t try to disturb, there was nothing in the tank. Of course, he could have missed something in the murk, but the place was sadly barren. Cheesy fishtanks in pet stores looked more livable than this place, and were certainly better taken care of. An ache grew in his chest at the thought of Victor having been trapped in this desolate place for months, with no one to communicate with or give comfort to him, and no prospects of getting out again.

One way or another, Yuuri was going to fix this.

A flash of… something… out of the corner of his eye had Yuuri making a slow turn. Another rock? Or maybe one he had already seen before. He wouldn’t be surprised if he had gotten completely turned around in this featureless twilight. Instead there was nothing there. He glanced around, but there wasn’t even a slightly humped pile of sand nearby. He regretted not bringing down his flashlight too.

With an invisible huff, Yuuri made another full turn and decided to give up for the day. He had taken as many useful samples as he could for the time being. Next week he could bring in his drysuit and a larger rebreather system and make a better plan to fully traverse the tank. Unless Ms. Saunders had approved flushing the tank before then.

He crouched down and kicked up off the floor of the tank, but suddenly found himself rushing sideways through the water. A swirl of sand and algae blinded him for precious seconds, and then he was slamming into the side of the tank and being held there by none other than Victor. Instinctively, Yuuri’s hand came up to push Victor away, but Victor easily batted his hand away, moving with a speed that Yuuri couldn’t manage underwater. Down here, Victor’s biology gave him all of the advantages, and he used them to keep Yuuri pushed tightly against the glass.

As the sand settled, Yuuri could make out Victor’s expression, teeth bared and eyes narrowed. Clearly he was upset at having his space violated, as Yuuri had thought, though he had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. He took a couple of deep, calming breaths—as much as he could with the rebreather—and slowly moved his hands out to his sides, pressing them up against the glass of his own volition and keeping them there, very still.

Victor’s eyes flickered to the sides, watching closely, but when nothing more happened, he flicked his tail lightly and pulled one hand away from Yuuri’s chest. Gently, he tugged at the utility belt and mesh bag, poking at the contents, but not trying to remove them. Then his free hand reached for Yuuri’s rebreather.

Yuuri grabbed Victor’s hand before he could tug it out of Yuuri’s mouth, but Victor didn’t let go or move. His eyes narrowed again and he tugged lightly on the rebreather, not forcing it out, but stubbornly insisting. In a split second decision that Yuuri would question later, Yuuri took a deep breath, loosened his jaw, and let the mouthpiece slip free.

Victor immediately pulled the rebreather up close to his face and examined it closely, poking at it with his long claws and trying to twist it apart. After a few seconds, Yuuri released a little bit of air and Victor turned his focus back to Yuuri, eyes wide with surprise. So Yuuri did it again, releasing just a few bubbles. Victor poked at his lips after, the sharp nail digging in but not cutting, but Yuuri turned his head firmly to the side. Victor frowned at that, but went back to examining the rebreather.

Yuuri was counting the seconds in his head, trying to stay calm. Victor wasn’t holding him anymore, so he should be able to get to the surface… as long as Victor didn’t try to stop him. He blew out a little more air and carefully moved his right hand.

Victor didn’t seem to notice, not until Yuuri touched the rebreather. His eyes went narrow and suspicious again and he jerked it away, but Yuuri kept reaching out. With reluctance, Victor let him touch it and then slowly, ever so slowly, draw it back toward himself. He shoved the mouthpiece back in as soon as it was close enough, taking as deep a breath as the rebreather would allow, even as he winced at the taste of algae on it. Finally Victor let go of it, watching closely as Yuuri took a few more breaths to try to get his heart rate to slow down.

This time when Yuuri pushed up toward the surface, Victor let him go, backing away with one wide sweep of his tail.

The cold from the water didn’t leave Yuuri’s bones until long after he crawled in bed that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all continue to astound me with your support. Thank you so, so much! I hope you continue to enjoy the story! 💖💖💖


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: none. But finally some incoming cuteness!
> 
> Extra special thanks again to my alpha/beta Rae ([Zuzuhi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zuzuhi/pseuds/Zuzuhi)), just because she's an awesome person. 🥰

_“Why would Selma Corp even hire me? There have to be dozens of applicants for a position like that.”_

_“Despite what you seem to think, I have done my research, and Selma Corp will as well. You were top of your class, Dr. Katsuki, and all of your professors highly recommend you. If you apply for this job, you’ll be a shoe-in. I have no doubt about this.”_

~*~

Yuuri went in to the lab on Saturday and Sunday, dumping a block of frozen fish in for Victor on both occasions, but never saw fin nor tail of the merman. He checked his email as well, even though he knew that a response to his report from Ms. Saunders was unlikely on the weekend. Taking advantage of the quiet weekend, he slipped into the main lab after feeding Victor. There were a couple of people working, but Minami was nowhere in sight, and Yuuri explored uninterrupted. He spent a little more time identifying the equipment that was available, most of which he didn’t have downstairs. It was easier to guess what he might have use for now that he knew what Victor was.

But more interesting were the habitats that lined the perimeter of the room. On a few habitats, the view panes were blocked, but most of them were easy to observe. There were all sorts of land habitats to be found, simulating deserts and jungles and everything in between. In one, he saw something that looked like a goat until it turned and hissed at him, exposing large fangs. Another held some small sticky-toed lizards that flared leathery wings at his approach. In the far corner, he found the Bravo’s habitat and squatted down to whisper nonsense to the puppy. Yuuri was pretty sure his badge wouldn’t let him open the habitat door, or he would be tempted to let Bravo out to play. Probably a good way to get fired, though, and he had a mission here. He still spent a few minutes giving the dog love, and he promised to come back later with permission to take him out, before he headed back home to his lonely apartment.

~*~

Monday morning, the good news finally came, and it was much better than Yuuri had expected. Ms. Saunders had responded earlier than he had anticipated _and_ she had given him free rein. Even the most extravagant and costly of his plans had been approved, with a small addendum that simply said, “All requests approved. If you need anything else, submit requisitions as soon as possible.” Apparently they were really serious when they had said they wanted more results from specimen V527.

Delighted, Yuuri immediately began drafting emails. Ms. Saunders had kindly provided a list of contact information for the janitorial department who would be handling the draining, repair, and cleaning of the tank. Yuuri fired off an email right away to Mr. Anthony Brum to inquire about scheduling everything, and then started planning orders from his favorite suppliers.

Three hours later, he had arranged for a variety of materials for the aquarium substrate, which he planned to deepen to a range of one to two feet across the aquarium, in order to allow for a wider variety of plant life and some animals that would burrow into the substrate. He also ordered a few large rocks and boulders in a range of shapes and types. With the opaqueness of the water and the lack of habitat materials, it was impossible to judge how Victor might want to interact with his environment, but Yuuri wanted to give him options. Would he build some kind of shelter or hiding place? Or would he ignore them and leave them wherever they fell?

Next he compiled a list of fish and plant varieties to stock. He would introduce things to the habitat slowly, but there were a number of smaller tanks in the lab that could be used for temporary storage. He wasn’t sure what Victor’s preferred diet was, so he would need to do a lot of experimenting and adjusting to figure that out and then establish a stable ecosystem, one that wouldn’t grow unbalanced like this one had, with its choking amount of plant life.

By the time he had charged an inordinate sum of money to the company account he had been provided with, he felt almost giddy. The amount of money he had spent was staggering, but this was also the biggest and most challenging project he had ever tackled in real life, and it was… surprisingly exciting. The control Yuuri would have over this one habitat was both exhilarating and frightening. If it all went wrong and somehow Victor died, it would be on his hands. But if it went right, if he could build a healthy environment for Victor, one where he might be content, or even happy…

Yuuri quickly shook his head. He was losing sight of his goal. If all went well, Victor wouldn’t be staying here. He would be back in his own real-world habitat, with others of his kind, not trapped in an imitation by himself.

Stretching, Yuuri stood up from his desk and glanced toward the tank. No sign of Victor yet, although he could be mere feet away from the glass and still be invisible. Soon that situation would be much improved anyway.

But the next problem of the day to tackle would be moving Victor to the auxiliary tank. The auxiliary was much, _much_ smaller than the main tank, but it had the advantage of not being totally congested with algae, and also was capable of being hidden behind a partition, a necessity when Ms. Saunders insisted on absolute secrecy of specimen V527, but outside workers _had_ to come in to make repairs. As much as he was willing to do everything by himself, Yuuri simply didn’t have enough experience to drain, repair, and clean the tank. Even if he knew how, he didn’t want to imagine how long it would take.

He and Mr. Brum were still emailing back and forth to work out the details of completing the project, but he had already agreed to start first thing in the morning, after getting temporary access granted to his badge by Ms. Saunders, which meant that Yuuri needed to move Victor today. The last thing he wanted was to use Ms. Saunders’ method, so he had to somehow convince Victor to come out of the tank of his own volition. Which was going to be quite a feat. Still, Victor was an intelligent and rational being, and Yuuri had the start of an idea.

It took him a few minutes to gather all of the supplies he needed. Thank heavens that whoever had used the lab previously had seemingly hated to throw out anything. Yuuri laid everything out on one of the many rolling tray tables, which seemed to have been stolen from other labs judging by the sheer number of them, and rolled it over to the lift. If he couldn’t communicate with Victor with words, he would just have to communicate with actions.

He had gotten better at the lift over the last week, so he didn’t have any jerky stops today, and managed to pause at the perfect height at the top of the tank. Now he just had to get Victor’s attention.

Firmly, he rapped on the glass of the tank three times and then waited. He hadn’t tried to use Ms. Saunders’ method for summoning Victor up until now, both because he didn’t need to see him, other than to assuage his curiosity, and because it seemed rather like treating him like a trained dog. But regardless of how Yuuri felt about it, he did need to see Victor now and try to convince him to cooperate. He really didn’t want to have to consider any other methods.

Yuuri kept an eye on his watch, and once five minutes had passed, he knocked on the glass again. This time a head instantly popped out of the water a good twenty feet away from him. Had Victor been waiting just under the surface to see what he would do? It didn’t matter right now, Yuuri quickly decided, and he waved at Victor awkwardly, feeling a blush reddening his cheeks. “Um… hello,” he tried out quietly. “It’s good to see you again, Victor.”

Turning to the side, Yuuri quickly pulled his tray closer to the tank so that Victor would be able to see it. “I have something to show you,” Yuuri said, holding up one of the glasses he had brought up with him. “Please? Just… watch.”

He waited a moment, but Victor didn’t react in any noticeable way and continued staring at him, so Yuuri mentally crossed his fingers and hoped for the best.

“Okay.” He took a deep breath and leaned forward to dip the glass into the tank water, filling the glass up. A slimy strand of seaweed hung over the side, but Yuuri ignored it and held the glass up for Victor to see. “This is the tank,” he said, pointing down at the tank and then back to the glass a couple of times. He felt a little bit stupid doing it and had to fight through his embarrassment to continue. This was the best way he had to communicate with Victor right now, and he wasn’t going to give up on it that easily.

He set the glass down on the tray and picked up his next item, a bright blue marble he had found stuck in the back of a desk drawer. He held it up. “This is you, Victor.” He pointed at the merman and repeated, “Victor.” Then back at the marble. “Victor. This is Victor.” He picked up the tank-glass again and dropped the marble in with a plop. “Victor lives in the tank.” Victor’s eyes narrowed suddenly, but he didn’t move.

He set the glass back down, then picked up a second glass. This one was already filled with clean water he had drawn from the tap. “This is a different tank, over there.” Yuuri pointed awkwardly over his shoulder, toward where the auxiliary tank was. He mentally berated himself as he realized that he had forgotten to open the partition so that Victor could actually _see_ the auxiliary tank. He would have to hope that Victor understand even with Yuuri making dumb mistakes. “A clean tank.”

Yuuri fished the marble out of the tank-glass with one hand, grimacing at the slick feel of the water. “Victor,” he repeated holding up the marble, and then he dropped it into the clean-water glass. A small swirl of algae spiraled off the marble as it sunk to the bottom. “Victor in the clean tank.” He pointed over his shoulder again. “We’ll move Victor to the clean tank.”

Setting the clean glass down, he picked up the dirty one once more and dumped the water back into the tank. Making a dramatic face of disgust, he grabbed a hand towel and wiped the glass clean of algae. “Clean!” Then he grabbed more of his supplies from the tray. All he had were leftover gravel and sand from when they had originally filled this tank, but it would serve for a demonstration, even if it wasn’t entirely accurate. He put a few pieces of gravel into the bottom of the glass, then poured sand over the top. Finally some more water finished off the miniature “tank.”

He held up the glass with a smile and nearly dropped it when he realized that Victor had moved closer without Yuuri noticing. Yuuri tightened his grip on the glass and said, “A clean tank. For Victor.” Then he dug marble-Victor out of the auxiliary tank-glass and moved him back to the new, clean tank-glass. He held it out toward Victor in a sort of peace offering. “For Victor.”

They remained in that tableau, frozen, for just a few seconds, then Victor burst forward in a splash of green water, pushing up to the edge of the tank. He hovered there, fingers clenched on the broad edge, and examined the tray that Yuuri had set up. Yuuri remained a couple of steps back, trying not to crowd him. After a couple more minutes, Victor reached out his hand toward Yuuri, curling and uncurling his fingers.

Yuuri blinked in startlement. “Oh! Uh…” He glanced around even though he knew there was nothing there to help him translate Victor’s actions. Victor frowned and heaved himself upward a couple more inches, stretching his arm out. Hesitantly, Yuuri held out the glass he was still holding. As soon as it was in reach, Victor snatched it away and proceeded to examine it closely, tilting it so the sand shifted and the marble rolled around and the water threatened to spill over the edge.

Finally he looked back at Yuuri, still holding the glass and tapping one long nail against it with a quiet ticking sound. He held the glass out to Yuuri. Moving slowly, Yuuri accepted the glass back and set it down on the tray, rolling it a couple feet to the side, so that it was out of the way.

“So…” Yuuri shuffled his feet and tried to act confident with Victor staring at him with those wide, questioning eyes. “Will Victor—” He pointed to Victor. “—move—” The gurney. “—to the new tank?” And toward the auxiliary tank.

Victor tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, seeming to consider Yuuri’s question. Yuuri was still quite sure that Victor didn’t actually understand his words, but the earlier researchers’ estimates of “dog-like intelligence” were becoming more and more ludicrous every time he interacted with Victor. He was so much more than that.

Victor braced his hands on the edge of the tank and pushed himself upward, making the muscles in his arms bulge. He flopped forward on his belly, balancing awkwardly on the edge, and eyed the gurney suspiciously. He tentatively placed on hand on the gurney, but then quickly snatched it back as he started to slide backward into the tank. Yuuri took a quick step forward, but stopped when Victor’s gaze jerked to watch him.

“I just…” Yuuri held up his hands placatingly. “Can I help?” Slowly, he reached out one hand, palm up, and waited. A thrill went through him when, after a moment’s consideration, Victor reached out his hand as well.

It didn’t go well. Yuuri should have expected it, really. He knew that Victor was at least as much fish as he was human, that he was covered in mucus to protect him from bacteria and other parasites and to assist him in moving quickly in water. He had even provided him with artificial slime, yet somehow when staring into that almost-human face, he forgot.

Their hands slipped apart on the first try, and after that Yuuri braced himself as well. He ended up wrapping his arms around Victor’s chest, under his armpits, and hauling him bodily over the lip of the tank as Victor struggled to not smack facedown on the gurney. It was not graceful. They were both panting. Yuuri was pretty sure that he ended up with more slime on him than Victor had by the end. But Victor… Victor had a wide grin that showed off faintly green and slightly pointed teeth, and was making a huffing noise that could almost be a laugh. Yuuri couldn’t stifle a few sniggers himself.

“Okay, that was… an adventure,” he said, catching his breath and finding a towel to wipe off the worst of the slime with. His glasses had a smear across one lens, but Yuuri managed to find a dry corner of shirt to clean them off with. When he looked back up again, Victor had stopped smiling and was staring down at his own body with a worried expression. He clutched at his chest and looked up at Yuuri with frantically wide eyes.

Ah. At some point during the disaster of getting Victor onto the gurney, he had started breathing with his lungs, half out of the water and needing the oxygen for the exertion. And he didn’t understand what was happening. He must not have noticed the last time he was out of the tank when he started breathing, too distracted by the pain.

“Victor.” Yuuri reached forward without hesitation this time, taking Victor’s hand and pulling it away from his chest a little bit. “It’s okay, Victor, this is normal. You’re fine.” He pulled Victor’s hand closer and placed it against his own chest, taking a few exaggeratedly deep breaths in demonstration. “See, I’m doing it too. It’s just because you’re out of the water. You’re fine, I promise.”

Victor watched his hand move up and down on Yuuri’s chest and slowly calmed down. Eventually he pulled his hand away and explored his own body, skimming his hands down his chest and stomach, still seeming to marvel at how they moved, and gingerly touching his gills, which flared a bit at the contact.

“Okay now?” Yuuri asked, and Victor looked up again. He seemed to be calm anyway, and so Yuuri nodded and shifted toward the lift controls. “All right, here we go.”

Victor sat upright for the whole trip, gripping the sides of the gurney tightly to maintain his sometimes precarious balance. He watched everything with wide, wondering eyes, probably most of which he hadn’t been able to see before from his prone position on the gurney. Yuuri carefully rolled Victor over to a second shower installation, this one hooked up to the main water, and positioned the gurney underneath. Victor watched closely as Yuuri turned on the shower, making sure it was a comfortable lukewarm and adjusted the spray so that it rained down on Victor.

Victor’s smile lit up again at the warm spray, and something in Yuuri’s chest lit up as well, but he shoved it down firmly. Instead, he stepped closer and started pulling plant bits out of Victor’s hair. He tried his best to keep his glasses out of the spray, but the rest of his outfit was a lost cause anyway. It didn’t take long for Victor to catch on, and soon he was wiping off loose strands of seaweed and finger-combing his hair with with his long nails.

While Victor was out of the tank, Yuuri took the opportunity to examine the work he had done last week on Victor’s injuries. All the minor ones seemed to have healed up fine, although he still had a couple of green and whites patches decorating his back that needed to be taken care of. Victor got anxious when Yuuri retrieved a packaged scalpel from a nearby table, but Yuuri gently touched each spot on his back and set out a jar of slime, and Victor held himself very still for the few minutes it took to scrape each spot clean and smear a layer of slime over it. None of them were deep enough to bleed, and Yuuri set aside the scalpel with a brisk “All done!”

The gash on his front was also looking better, although it was far from healed. The stitches were still mostly intact, although they had begun to dissolve at the edges of the wound, and the deeper layers of tissues seemed to be healing together well. Yuuri didn’t try to touch it, as it seemed Victor was already being very thorough in keeping it slathered in slime.

In a matter of minutes they were done and Yuuri turned the water off, only to giggle at Victor’s clear pout, already recovered from his minor treatment. He reached for the faucet that Yuuri had just turned off, almost falling off the gurney in the process, but Yuuri caught him and pulled him away. “Just a couple more minutes and you’ll be in the auxiliary tank anyway,” Yuuri said, starting to push the gurney again once Victor had settled down. “And I made sure the water is warmer, I promise.”

One of the many benefits of getting permission to flush the tank and start fresh would be getting the water to a better temperature for Victor sooner, but the auxiliary tank, at least, didn’t take nearly as long to adjust, since it was so much smaller. Yuuri was glad to be getting Victor into a more moderate water temperature sooner rather than later, and he hoped that it, along with a slowly improving diet, would soon see some more fat on Victor’s near-skeletal frame.

The lift platform for the auxiliary tank was much narrower, and Yuuri only barely managed to get the gurney and himself onto it to raise them up to the top. Victor flopped over onto his stomach and leaned out over the top of the tank, eyeing the clear water closely before dipping one hand into it. He made a very quiet noise that Yuuri was too surprised to hear to attempt to interpret, and then Victor looked over at him with a frown.

“I know it’s small, but it’s only temporary. We just have to clean the bigger tank. It’ll only be a few days.” Yuuri twisted his fingers together and wished that he had a better way to communicate with Victor, something more than bad charades and useless hand gestures. Maybe they could work on that next. After the main tank was functioning again. That sounded like a good plan.

Despite Yuuri’s sad attempts, Victor must have gotten something out of it, as he twisted his mouth into a grimace but flipped forward into the tank with much more grace than they had managed with getting out.

The tank was empty, lacking even a basic substrate. It wasn’t intended or prepared for any kind of long-term habitation, but it was clean and it was out of sight, and those were the important things right now. Victor moved gracefully through the water as he explored the small space, and for the first time, Yuuri could actually see him do it. It was… breathtaking. He was fluid and economical, using only the slightest twitches of tail and arms to keep himself moving through the water. He was beautiful.

Flushing, Yuuri called out, “I’ll be right back, Victor!” and lowered the lift without waiting to see if he would respond. His heart felt like it was tripping over itself in his chest, and once back down to the ground he stood there on the platform for a long second, staring blankly at the gurney in front of him. Eventually he shook himself out of it and went to gather his surprise.

He collected the styrofoam cooler that had been waiting for him at the reception desk this morning and another jar of slime and headed back up to the top of the tank.

He opened the jar and left it on the lip of the tank, just as he had before, and Victor immediately swam upward and dipped his fingers into it, apparently over whatever shyness or fear had ensured Yuuri had never seen him use it, even while the slime slowly disappeared. Yuuri watched with interest as Victor carefully applied stripes of the slime to his torso, especially on his sides and under his arms, and to a couple of spots on his hip-area. Places, Yuuri quickly realized, where Yuuri himself had rubbed off the mucus or the gurney had managed to do so.

Leaning over the edge of the tank a little, Yuuri tried calling, “Victor?”

Instantly, Victor’s head tipped upward and he sped to the surface, popping out mere inches from Yuuri’s face and showering him with lukewarm droplets of water. He tilted his head to the side curiously and waited.

“I got something for you.” Yuuri backed away from the tank enough to crouch down and pull the lid off the cooler, revealing the ice-packed fresh-caught fish inside. Much better quality than the frozen crap Victor had been eating for months now. Yuuri lifted the cooler up to the edge of the tank and began tipping.

Victor’s eyes went wide as soon as he saw the contents and he dove back down, letting Yuuri pour the fish and remaining ice water into the tank around him. Victor gleefully pounced on one of the dead fish and ripped into it with his claws, sending a swirl of red into the water around him.

Despite the mess and gore, Yuuri couldn’t help but feel his heart rise at the site. Smile firmly in place, Yuuri left Victor to his feast and returned to his computer to finish making arrangements for tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys continue to amaze me with your support! I'm so, so glad that you all are enjoying this story and I hope I don't disappoint. Have a happy Monday! 💖💖💖💖💖💖


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: None for this chapter!
> 
> The moment we've all been waiting for... Victor's first words! :D Also, enter Phichit and Yuri! 😏

_“Someone will be in contact with you soon to arrange for pickup of whatever documentation you can provide for us.”_

_“Not… you, then?”_

_“I may not be available for those meetings. Don’t worry, though. All of our employees are discreet.”_

~*~

Tuesday morning was chaotic. Mr. Brum and a few members of his crew were already waiting when Yuuri arrived in the lobby at 6 A.M. sharp, and Yuuri hds to resist the urge to bow deeply in apology. Instead he settled on a quiet “sorry to keep you waiting” and escorted them down to the second-level basement lab. A few of the crew looked around curiously, but Yuuri had already made sure last night that the partition that hid Victor and the auxiliary tank was firmly shut and would only open to his badge swipe. All the papers had likewise been locked away in their filing cabinets and his computer completely logged out, just to be sure no one got even a glimpse of anything relating to specimen V527.

Mr. Brum remained a consummate professional and quickly took in the room before him. Even though Victor had only been in residence for a few months, this lab had apparently been a secure part of the facility for the past few years, and Mr. Brum hadn’t had access to it at all during that time, which explained some of the unspeakable dust bunnies that Yuuri had discovered on the far side of the tank. He hardly wasted a moment before calling out instructions to his crew and starting to familiarize himself with the tank control panel. Before Yuuri could even try to help, the draining process had already started, and a pair of employees who had been granted temporary badge access while Yuuri was on the level left with a list compiled by Mr. Brum to fetch more cleaning supplies.

Yuuri quickly discovered that he was completely unnecessary. Mr. Brum was highly competent at his job, and certainly didn’t need Yuuri’s inadequate assistance right now. But that left him at loose ends. If he left the level, the temporary badge access they had would be revoked and they would be stuck there until Yuuri came back. But while here, he couldn’t continue looking through the research they had compiled on Victor over the last few months, since someone might see something over his shoulder. He puttered around in a couple of the unsecured supply cabinets for a while, organizing them more thoroughly and tossing out a few useless and broken items. Then he slipped back to the partition access panel and slid his badge. It beeped green at him and he glanced behind him to make sure no one was paying attention before opening the panel just enough to slip through and immediately shutting it behind him again.

Victor was floating near the back of the tank, close to the bottom. He was drawn up in a tight ball, and Yuuri paused just inside the room, as he appeared to be sleeping. A few scattered remains of the fish from yesterday littered the bottom of the tank, the odd bone here and there, but Victor appeared to have devoured them all. The blood had dissipated in the water, and although it was tinted with some color, from both the fish guts and the algae they hadn’t managed to rinse off of Victor, it still looked much cleaner.

Yuuri flicked the lights from the dim setting they were on to the normal daylight brightness, and Victor immediately turned to look at him. Hesitantly, Yuuri lifted a hand and waved, feeling a faint blush of embarrassment rise in his cheeks, but after a long moment, Victor imitated him, waving one hand stiltedly from the elbow. At that response, Yuuri couldn’t help but grin, and Victor drifted closer, tapping the glass lightly with his nails.

He wished that today’s fish shipment was here already, but it probably wouldn’t arrive for a few hours, and until then, Yuuri couldn’t think of anything productive to do. So instead he climbed onto the lift platform and rode up to the top. Victor met him there.

“Good morning, Victor,” he greeted softly, so pleased that Victor apparently was still feeling kindly toward him after everything that had happened yesterday. Even with the surprise fish dinner, it had been a stressful day, and Yuuri wouldn’t have blamed Victor if he had withdrawn and ignored Yuuri today. He was just grateful that that wasn’t the case. “I hope you had a good night.”

Victor pushed some of his hair back from his face and smiled softly.

“They… they’re starting to clean your tank today,” Yuuri continued, pointing at the partition that was closed. Even with the partition wall separating them from the workers, they could hear the jumbled sound of voices and occasional clanks of equipment as the crew… did whatever they were doing over there. “It will take a few days to do all the repairs and cleaning, but we’ve started working on your new home!” Yuuri grinned at Victor and Victor responded in kind, picking up on his excitement. But then Yuuri’s smile faded as he heard his own words.

Victor’s new home? But was it really? Could you call it a home when it was still a cage, one designed to keep him trapped and available for testing like he was some kind of animal? He was supposed to be _freeing_ Victor from this situation. Somehow.

In response to Yuuri’s fallen expression, Victor frowned as well, stretching up a hand to poke gently at Yuuri’s cheek. He made a soft sound in his throat, almost a chirp, and Yuuri forced himself to smile again. “Victor! You made another noise! Can you do it again?”

Victor tipped his head in adorable confusion, then chirped again. Yuuri clapped his hands encouragingly. “I knew you could do it. I bet you could learn to speak if you wanted too. And then we could learn to communicate. Maybe you could tell me what you really want then…”

Catching on to Yuuri’s enthusiasm, Victor made a few more chirping noises and threw in a high-pitched squeak as well. Laughing, Yuuri leaned on the edge of the tank and tried to coach Victor a little. “What about this? Can you say _Vic-tor_? Vvvvvviiiikkkk-toooorrr.”

The next couple of hours passed pleasantly as Victor tried to say both his own and Yuuri’s names—Yuuri’s turned out to be much easier to master. Then Yuuri laughed too hard at one of Victor’s attempts at his own name, and Victor retreated to the middle of the tank to pout. Still giggling, Yuuri turned to lean against the wall of the tank—he had raised the platform enough that he could comfortably sit on the floor and still see over the edge—and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He thought he had felt it buzzing earlier, but had ignored it in favor of continuing to interact with Victor. It was his job, right? This was research, into what sorts of things Victor was capable of.

He had a new text message from an unknown number. It was short and to the point. _Old Brews Cafe. 7 P.M. NH._

His contact from NuHuman finally wanted to meet with him. His stomach clenched and his hand shook as he clutched at his phone, staring at the text until the screen went dark. Did they expect him to have information by now? Proof? Documentation? Of course Yuuri could _say_ that Victor was clearly intelligent and sentient, but that wouldn’t be enough to convince anyone important. He wasn’t sure what _would_ be. Even a recording of what they had been doing just a few minutes ago could be dismissed. People could say that Victor was just a social animal learning to imitate his trainer. Many types of birds could learn how to imitate speech after all.

Yuuri buried his head in his knees, his glasses shoving up to his forehead, and stayed there for a few minutes, trying to calm his breathing and bury his panic. They wouldn’t be expecting anything right away. Maybe he could even get some advice this evening on what kind of documentation they would find most useful. Yes. It would be okay. He just had to calm down.

“Yuuuuuri?” Victor’s warbling voice from behind startled Yuuri into jerking upright with a gasp. He turned to find Victor looking at him with concern, one hand dripping water onto Yuuri’s shoulder, but not quite touching him. “Yuuuuri?”

Yuuri exhaled, adjusted his glasses, and took in a deep breath before trying to speak. “I’m okay, Victor. I’m okay.” He reached out and took Victor’s hand, claws, webbing and all, then let go again with a blush. “Ah… thank you.”

Victor folded his arms across the edge of the tank and laid his head down on them, still watching Yuuri closely. “Yuuuuuri.”

Yuuri laughed softly. “I’m sorry. I just got overwhelmed for a minute. I’m okay. Promise.”

Victor finally smiled again and hummed happily. Then he frowned in concentration. “Fffeeeee-toe?”

Stifling another laugh, Yuuri turned around fully and began to practice again. “Vvvvvvv….”

~*~

It was nearly six o’clock by the time all of the cleaning and repair crew had left. The tank had been fully drained, and Mr. Brum had begun to make a list of repairs to be made to the various maintenance equipment, including the filters. Apparently, there were even a few hairline cracks forming on one of the tank walls, but Mr. Brum had assured Yuuri that they were mostly cosmetic issues that could be fixed without replacing the entire panel. Yuuri was exhausted, even if he hadn’t actually done much work, just from having so many people in his space. Now Victor had been fed and was settled for the night, and Yuuri was ready to go home and crash. But he still had a meeting to go to.

Instead of going home and risking not wanting to leave again, Yuuri went straight to the coffee shop. It meant he arrived over a half hour early, but Yuuri just got the largest cup of green tea they had and a pastry that he definitely didn’t need and settled down at a corner table, facing the door. And he waited.

After he finished his pastry and brushed away the crumbs, he pulled out his phone and played a mindless game for a while, hoping to distract himself from the cramping nervousness in his stomach. It didn’t help much, but it did keep him distracted enough that when someone dropped into the seat across from him with a loud “Oi!” he jumped what felt like a full foot.

Yuuri grabbed at his chest at the sudden pounding of his heart, staring wide-eyed at the blond, grumpy teenager sitting across from him. “Umm… hello? Can I help you?”

The teenager tsked and flipped his long bangs out of his eyes. “You’re Dr. Yuuri Katsuki, yeah? We’re supposed to meet up or something.” He slouched lower in his seat and glared at Yuuri.

“I….” Yuuri blinked rapidly. “You’re from… from NuHuman Research Group?”

“Well, duh,” he scoffed.

“Oh. Okay.” Yuuri paused to try to gather his thoughts. “Where’s—”

“She couldn’t make it, okay? Do you have something to give me or what?”

Yuuri stared at the teen for a long minute, before finally asking, “What’s your name?”

He sighed as if Yuuri had just asked for something inconvenient. “Yuri Plisetsky.”

“Okay, um, Yuri.” How strange, to have the same name as this aggressive teenager sitting across from him. “I don’t… know exactly what I’m supposed to give you. That’s… part of what I was going to ask tonight…”

Yuri’s upper lip curled in annoyance. “You’re supposed to be the fucking scientist here, right? How am I supposed to know what you’re supposed to give us? I’m just a fucking intern!” Yuri was leaning forward now, fists on the table, and looking frustrated. Yuuri hastily backtracked.

“I mean—! I mean, Victor is clearly sentient! NuHuman was right.” Yuuri leaned a little closer and lowered his voice. “Victor is a person, not an animal. I just don’t know what is needed to _prove_ that.” He looked at Yuri earnestly, hoping that this explained enough to net him an answer.

Instead Yuri just frowned and said, “Who the fuck is Victor?”

Yuuri felt a brief tinge of worry as he remembered that packet of NDAs that he had signed, but this was what he had agreed to. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh and decided it was best to start from the beginning. “Well, Victor is a merman…”

~*~

That evening back at his apartment, Yuuri curled up on his couch under a soft blanket and stared at his phone. His sister Mari had texted him on Sunday and he had yet to respond. _How’s the new job, little brother?_

As he lay there holding the phone above his head, the screen kept going dark and he kept tapping it to wake it up again. Yet he didn’t write anything. He didn’t know how to respond.

_The job’s great! I’m helping hold a person in captivity for science experiments!_

_My paid job is going well, but it’s my volunteer side job that’s got me really excited. I’m working as a corporate spy!_

_I’m teaching a merman how to talk and he’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen in my life._

None of these were real options, obviously, and Yuuri sighed as the phone went dark once more. This time he dropped it on his chest and reached for the box of white cheddar cheese crackers that sat beside him on the floor, stuffing another handful into his mouth and shedding white powder everywhere. He was a walking disaster—well, a lounging one, anyway.

His phone buzzed in his lap and he startled, showering more crackers onto his face. Yuuri struggled upright, sending crackers to the floor and probably into the deep cracks of his couch, and nearly fumbled his phone as well before he managed to unlock it. It was Phichit.

**Phichit:** u didnt like my last hamster photos :(((((

**Yuuri:** sorry been busy

**Phichit:** :(((((((((((((((((((( too busy for HAMSTERS?????

**Yuuri:** ill get on insta right now

**Phichit:** noooooo talk to meeeee

**Phichit:** hows the new job meet any one cute?? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Yuuri’s face flamed and he dropped his phone, then scrambled to pick it up again and send a denial.

It was too late.

**Phichit:** do i sense a hesitation??? GIVE ME THE DEETS BOI

**Yuuri:** NO THERES NO CUTE BOYS HERE

**Phichit:** a boy????

Yuuri moaned and covered his face with one hand, then started typing again.

**Yuuri:** Really, there’s nothing going on. Promise.

**Phichit:** okay i’ll stop… for now. but tell me about ur job fr!

**Yuuri:** its good. busy. ive got an interesting project to work on

**Phichit:** good! btw your sister says to text her back

**Yuuri:** i am i will. i was working on it when you texted

**Phichit:** ill let u do that then ^^

**Phichit:** dont forget to like my babeys!!

Yuuri smiled, then flipped back to his conversation with Mari and started typing.

**Yuuri:** The new job is going well. I don’t have to work with a lot of other people, which is nice, and I’m being given a lot of leeway to do what I want. Also, I met another Yuri today! I think he is Russian or something, though, because he has an accent. Hope you and the parents are doing good. Love you.

Yuuri tapped send and closed his phone. Mari probably wouldn’t be responding for a while, anyway. It tomorrow morning there and Mari would be busy helping customers and working in the onsen. Sighing, he laid back down on the couch and pulled the blanket up to his neck, leaving just enough room to free one arm to hold his phone, and began to scroll through his Instagram. He had promised to like all of Phichit’s latest photos of his hamsters, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really can't thank you all enough for all of the love that you're giving this fic. Please know that I appreciate each and every single comment and kudo and bookmark! 💖 If you want to yell at me, come find me on Twitter @lexical_dreamer


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: None for this chapter.
> 
> Victor and Yuuri continue to be cute. Yuri continues to be the epitome of angsty intern. Oh, and if it's not obvious, everyone's been aged up a couple years from canon.

_“Dr. Katsuki, I want to impress upon you the urgency of this task. Without your assistance, this creature could live in captivity for the rest of their life. As nice as Selma Corp’s facilities may be, they are still a prison.”_

_“O-of course. I’d never want…”_

_“Don’t worry. We’ll be here to help.”_

~*~

The next couple of days were chaotic, to say the least. Yuuri came in early and left late. Mr. Brum and his crew were efficient and polite, but their work made a lot of noise, and Yuuri found himself popping pain pills in an effort to fight off constant headaches. Victor was increasingly grumpy at being confined to the small auxiliary tank, and twice refused to interact with Yuuri at all for hours on end.

On Thursday, things started looking up. The tank was ready to be refilled. Mr. Brum and two workers with experience with heavy equipment stayed to help build the substrate, as it was something that Yuuri couldn’t do by himself. Luckily, there was a service elevator behind the tank that could be used for delivering the heavy loads of rock and sand that would be needed.

Yuuri had planned ahead and already had the supplies ordered and waiting at the local supplier. Mr. Brum oversaw the pickup and delivery, much to Yuuri’s relief, and then Yuuri stepped in to direct the actual placement. There were five layers of substrate planned and Yuuri carefully directed each shovel of rock into the tank, shoving down his nerves at being in charge. After all, Victor wouldn’t actually _die_ if the layers weren’t exactly right.

Once the substrate layers were in place, that only left the variety of large rocks and boulders that Yuuri had ordered. He didn’t want to dump them all in at once or indiscriminately, but after a quick consultation with Mr. Brum, they instead wrapped them up in harnessing and set up a simple hand-operated light crane that would allow Yuuri to add the rocks himself with minimal effort. Mr. Brum could come and remove the crane again whenever Yuuri finished it, if Ms. Saunders gave her approval. Otherwise, the cost would end up tacked on to his tank refurbishment report.

Mr. Brum also left him a ladder that could reach the bottom of the tank and informed Yuuri sternly to contact him if he had any further questions. Yuuri blinked in surprise and then tentatively smiled at the older man, reaching out to shake his hand. “Thank you for all your assistance with this project, Mr. Brum. I can’t imagine it would have gone as smoothly with anyone else.”

Mr. Brum shook his hand twice, very firmly, and replied, “Call me Anthony.” Then he nodded and gestured to his remaining crewmembers to gather up their equipment and head out.

Yuuri was left standing uncertainly in the midst of his lab, finally alone after three and a half days of chaos and people. The lab was sparkling clean in the new, brighter lights that Mr. Brum—er, Anthony—had installed. For a minute the emptiness and sterility felt overwhelming, lonely, but then Yuuri released a full breath for the first time in what felt like days and turned toward the partition.

There was still work to do, obviously. The tank didn’t even have water in it yet, but Yuuri wouldn’t need help for the rest of it. The past days had provided him with multiple deliveries of plants and fish that were being stored in the small tanks that littered the lab, but adding them would be a slow process of checking and double-checking how Victor reacted to and interacted with each new addition. But for now, Victor could start watching.

Yuuri swiped his badge and slid the partition open so that Victor could see the whole of the lab again. He approached the tank cautiously, since when he had left earlier Victor had been upset again, although still interacting with Yuuri. “Victor?” he called as he approached the tank. He didn’t ride the lift up to the top, but waited by the glass for Victor to acknowledge him. He remained with his back turned to Yuuri stubbornly for another minute, but as soon as he peeked over his shoulder, he sped to the glass, ignoring Yuuri in favor of examining the large tank behind Yuuri.

After a minute, he focused back on Yuuri and tapped his fingers against the glass, frowning. Yuuri placed his fingers against the glass, and Victor pressed his hand against Yuuri’s.

“There’s not water in it yet, so you won’t be able to move for another day or two,” Yuuri said. Victor wouldn’t be able to hear more than a mumble with the glass and the water, but he wouldn’t understand the words anyway. “But you can watch now. I promise this will be much nicer. And live fish for dinner tonight!”

Victor tilted his head curiously and tapped his fingers again with a slight smile. Yuuri smiled back and nodded firmly. Time to get back to work.

The first step was getting the water started in the tank. Even with the large inflow valves the tank was equipped with, it would take almost twenty hours to completely fill the tank. It was convenient that he wouldn’t have to stay all night to make sure that the cutoff didn’t accidentally malfunction, but that did mean the Victor wouldn’t be able to move back until tomorrow. Yuuri double-checked that the salinity unit was filled and punched in the correct setting. Then he pushed the button to open the valve.

The water pouring into the tank was _loud_. Yuuri almost covered his ears as the sound abruptly shattered the peaceful quiet that had fallen over the lab ever since the work crew had left, but managed to resist the urge. He knew that the sound wouldn’t last too long anyway, disappearing once the valve was covered over with water. Since it was near the bottom of the tank, that shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.

Next he gathered a few small plants to place in the tank. He chose only two species to begin with, both of which supported microorganisms that would help clean the tank and keep the algae population under control. He wasn’t sure yet if Victor ate any plants, but if he did either of these should be safe for him. Yuuri would watch their growth carefully over the coming weeks, both to look for signs of Victor snacking on them and to make sure that their growth didn’t get out of hand and overwhelm the tank environment.

Putting on a pair of waders he had found in an otherwise empty closet, Yuuri climbed down the ladder Mr. Brum had left and into the tank. The water was inches deep already and rising slowly, swirling around his ankles with force. He wandered the tank, carefully anchoring the samples in sand and spacing them to ensure a healthy growth. Yuuri was pleased that the water was a pleasant temperature against his hands, instead of the deep chill of the previous tank water. Between the base tap-water temperature that it was going to be starting at, and the tank temperature controls to ensure that it warmed up a little bit more to a moderate tropical habitat temperature, Yuuri was sure that Victor would be much more comfortable. Even with his increased diet over the past few days, Victor had put on hardly any fat at all, leading Yuuri to believe that he simply wasn’t suited to colder temperatures. Even if he had been found practically in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it seemed more and more likely that Victor had ended up there by some sort of fluke.

Either way, by observing him in the coming weeks and taking notes of what plant and fish varieties he preferred, Yuuri should be able to get a better sense of what temperature and salinity was best for Victor’s health. There would be lots of adjustments along the way, but things could only get better from here on out.

By the time Yuuri finished with his plants, the water was pushing against his calves, and he clambered up the ladder eagerly. He shucked the waders once he was back on the platform and turned to look at Victor. Victor was lounging on the upper edge of the auxiliary tank, watching Yuuri, and he waved eagerly when Yuuri looked his direction. “Yuuuuuri!” he called, then he splashed loudly backward, sending a spray of water onto the floor.

Yuuri laughed and lowered the lift to the floor. He rinsed off the waders and hung them up to dry before going back over to the auxiliary tank, this time riding the small lift up to the top. Victor was already waiting for him there.

“Yuuuri,” he said, tipping his head to the side, his hair dripping water onto Yuuri as he settled down in his usual sitting position at the side of the tank. “Wwaaaaataaa?”

Yuuri couldn’t hold back his smile. He was so glad that Victor had cheered up again, even if he was still trapped in the small auxiliary tank. “Yes, Victor. I’ve started the _waterrr_ in the big tank.” Yuuri emphasized the _r_ at the end of the word. He knew from experience that the English _r_ was a difficult and very strange sound to learn, but Victor had yet to get frustrated with learning new words, even when he threw one of his tantrums.

“Wwaaaataarrrr,” Victor tried again, this time almost trilling his _r_.

Yuuri just laughed. “Close!” he encouraged and basked in the happy chirp that Victor made in response.

Yuuri sat back when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He dug it out to find another message from another unknown number. This one only said _6:30_. Yuuri frowned at the screen until Victor made a sad noise and poked Yuuri’s cheek gently with one long nail.

“Ah! Sorry,” he said automatically, jerking his head up and dropping his phone down to the floor beside him. “Just… a meeting later,” he mumbled, even though Victor wouldn’t understand that for sure.

Victor just continued to stare at him with worried eyes. “Yuuurii?” When Yuuri didn’t respond, Victor braced his upper arms against the edge of the tank and reached forward with both hands, carefully petting Yuuri’s hair. “Yuuri,” he said very softly.

Yuuri let himself enjoy the touch for a long minute. It had been too long. Years since he had seen his family in person. Months since he had seen Phichit. He was lonely. And even if Victor could only say his name, he was good company.

But he was also a job. Reluctantly, Yuuri pulled away, gathering Victor’s hands in his and setting them back on the edge of the tank.

“Yuuuri?”

Yuuri smiled softly. “Thank you, Victor.”

Victor watched him closely, scratching at the edge of the tank with his nails, but then gave him a small smile. “Ssaaannnk yuu.”

Yuuri laughed without meaning to. “Almost, Victor. Let’s try again. _Th_ ank. _Th_ ank you.”

~*~

Yuuri showed up at the same coffee shop as before at 6:22. The other Yuri wasn’t there yet, but Yuuri ordered tea and eyed the pastries before turning away and staking out the same corner table as last time. He sipped his tea and checked his phone while he waited.

Mari had responded to his text.

 **Mari:** Two Yuuris is confusing. You should give him a nickname. Kaasan wants to know when we’re doing a Skype call again. Yuuko-chan sends love.

 **Yuuri:** I can’t just give a stranger a nickname. Besides, it’s not confusing for *me*. I should be free this weekend for a call, so send me some times that work for you all. Give my love to the Nishigoris!

Yuuri slipped his phone into his pocket just as Yuri Plisetsky thumped into the chair across from him, looking just as grumpy as he had last time Yuuri had seen him. He pulled a crumpled manila envelope out of his jacket and dropped it onto the table between them with a noisy sigh.

“Um, hi Yuri,” Yuuri said quietly.

“Hey.” Yuri didn’t offer anything else in response, just glared at the ratty envelope he had thrown down.

“This… this is for me?” Yuuri asked, tentatively reaching for the envelope.

Yuri’s glare moved from the envelope to Yuuri. “Duh. Lilia said it was to help you… determine ‘valid evidence’ or something, I don’t know, for fuck’s sake.” With that, Yuri collapsed forward onto the table, pillowing his head on his arms and groaning loudly.

“Umm…” Yuuri hastily glanced around the shop, but no one seemed to be paying them any attention. “Are you okay?”

“No, I’m fucking not.” Yuri’s voice was muffled, but his annoyance still came through loud and clear. “I’m fucking tired.” Yuri sat upright again, then pushed his chair away from the table abruptly. “Not that it’s any of your fucking business. Fuck!”

Then he was gone, storming out of the coffee shop in a way that definitely _did_ draw attention this time, before Yuuri could even attempt to formulate a response. At least he had left the envelope behind. Yuuri gathered his things, stuffing the envelope into his bag, and left the coffee shop as well, mumbling an apology in the general direction of the openly staring barista as he left.

At least at his apartment he didn’t have to deal with angsty interns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOU GUYS CONTINUE TO SHOWER ME WITH LOVE AND GIVE ME SO MUCH JOY! SPECIAL THANKS TO DACHI WHO CONTINUES TO BE THE BEST AND REMINDED ME THAT I NEEDED TO FUCKING POST A CHAPTER TODAY BECAUSE I COMPLETELY FORGOT HOLY SHIT.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: needles, blood (Yuuri draws Victor's blood after demonstrating on himself).
> 
> Victor finally moves into the fresh tank!

_“How will I get the information to you? Without anyone getting suspicious? If they’re really doing all this stuff, won’t they be keeping an eye on their employees?”_

_“Don’t worry so much, Dr. Katsuki. We’re aware of the measures that they have in place and will ensure that you’re never in any danger. That said, don’t trust your coworkers. You never know who might be involved with this on a deeper level. It’s best to keep your cards close to your chest.”_

_“I… Cards?”_

_“It’s a saying, Dr. Katsuki. Don’t trust anyone.”_

~*~

Victor was waiting anxiously for him the next morning. The tank was well over half full by now, and Victor called his name and tapped the glass and pointed at the tank as if Yuuri could possibly miss it, chirping and humming happily all the while.

“Good morning, Victor!” Yuuri greeted as he deposited his stuff by his desk. He made a detour to check on the water output and verify that there hadn’t been any problems overnight. The system should have shut off the water and alerted him if there had been, but it made Yuuri feel better to double-check. Once he had verified that everything was still working as it should, he headed over to the auxiliary tank where Victor was waiting impatiently at the surface, flipping his tail and splashing water everywhere.

At the top of the tank, Victor greeted him with an excited “Yuuuuriii!” and a beaming smile.

“It looks like we’ll be able to move you back to the bigger tank today, Victor,” Yuuri said, returning the smile wholeheartedly. “It’ll be a few hours though.”

Victor seemed to understand his tone and gave Yuuri a dramatic pout. “Yuuri, waaterrr, taaannk?”

“Not yet, Victor. This afternoon, probably.” Yuuri pushed a clump of wet hair back from Victor’s face and laughed at his glare. “Soon, I promise!”

Then Yuuri pulled out the supplies he had snagged on his way over, two syringes, a rubber strap, nitrile gloves, and some sealed alcohol wipes. “I actually hoped to get a sample from you this morning.” Yuuri held up the supplies in Victor’s view. He was nervous about how Victor might react to it, as he wasn’t sure what Victor’s past experiences here had consisted of, but Victor just stared blankly, then looked back up to Yuuri for an explanation.

“I need to draw blood,” Yuuri said hesitantly, wishing so much that Victor could _understand_ him this time instead of having to play the charade game again. “It won’t hurt much, just a poke. I’m going to show you first, okay?”

Yuuri proceeded to do just that, wrapping the rubber strap around his upper arm and pulling it tight with his teeth. He ripped open one of the alcohol swabs and swiped at his arm, then probed with his gloved finger until a vein popped up. The needle was the hardest part. Even if Yuuri had some professional experience with it, he had only used syringes on animals before, and most of the time they were already dead. But he exhaled slowly and managed to stick his vein on the first try. Then it was only a matter of yanking off the strap, filling the vial, slipping the needle back out, and pressing a piece of gauze to the small prick.

After he laid aside the syringe and its contents, Yuuri looked up to find Victor had backed away from the edge of the tank a couple of feet, although he was still at the surface, which was a good sign. Yuuri dabbed at his arm a couple of times to make sure that the bleeding had stopped, then pulled off his gloves and knelt at the edge of the tank, to be on eye level with Victor.

“Victor?”

Victor hesitated from his spot in the tank, glancing at the small ledge where Yuuri had left all the supplies, but when Yuuri remained kneeling there, he swam slowly forward. Back at the edge of the tank, Victor reached over the dividing glass and latched on to Yuuri’s left arm, pulling it toward him. Victor gingerly poked at the small mark on Yuuri’s arm and watched Yuuri’s face closely.

“I’m not hurt, Victor. I just… need to do some tests so I can learn to help you best. I don’t want you to be scared.” Yuuri let Victor turn his arm this way and that, checking for any more damage, and eventually let go.

“Yuuri?” Victor folded his arms across the edge of the tank and laid his head down as had become his habit when talking with Yuuri. “Goood?”

Yuuri laughed quietly and was surprised at the wet sound of it. He sniffed self-consciously and nodded. “I’m good, Victor. I’m good. And you will be too.”

Victor stared for a long moment more, then nodded and held out his arm.

Yuuri did it as quickly and painlessly as he knew how, but Victor still pouted at him when he was finished, poking at his wound before Yuuri had a chance to staunch it with the gauze and smearing blood around. “Victor!” Yuuri chided, snatching his arm back and pressing the gauze over the bleeding pinprick. “You’ll make it worse.”

Victor allowed him to finish treating the wound and smear some slime over it to prevent infection, before trying to coax him into another speaking session. Smiling and laughing slightly, Yuuri shook his head and gathered up his supplies again. “I’m sorry, Victor, I can’t right now. I have to start on this specimen right away. But this afternoon, when we move you to the big tank, okay?”

“Taannk? Oh-kay!” Victor responded and flipped his tail showily when he dived deeper into the auxiliary tank, splashing Yuuri with water.

Back on the ground, Yuuri disposed of all his hazardous materials in the provided bin, including his own sample, since he had no reason to keep it, and carefully documented and labeled Victor’s sample. He put it in the mini-fridge for the time being and started planning out the full spectrum of tests he wanted to do today, the majority of which had to be done in the upstairs lab. When he checked the progress of the tank, he still had at least four hours before it would be full, time enough to get most of the tests done or at least started.

He waved to Victor one last time before he took his sample, paperwork, and a tablet to jot things down just in case and swiped his card to summon the elevator.

The main lab was busy and chaotic as usual. In one corner three researchers were trying to corral an escaped cryptid that looked like some cross between a deer and a lizard, but everyone else was ignoring them, so Yuuri could only assume that it was relatively safe. He scanned the equipment to see what looked available for use, but before he could decide, he was interrupted by the younger scientist who had given him his tour on the first day.

“Dr. Katsuki!” he called out, nearly skipping the last few steps toward him. “It’s so good to see you in the main lab again! How have you been? Are you doing some tests? How’s Victor doing these days?”

Yuuri flinched back under the barrage of questions. “Oh, um, Minami, right? It’s… good to see you too.” Minami beamed at him, which Yuuri took as confirmation that he got the right name. “I’ve been well. I finally have some samples to test, so I thought I’d spend the morning up here, if that’s all right.”

“Of course, it’s all right, Dr. Katsuki!” Minami bounced on the tips of his toes for a few seconds before catching himself. “You have just as much right to use the equipment down here as the rest of us.”

“Thank you, Minami,” Yuuri replied and started trying to edge his way toward the equipment he had decided on for his first test.

Minami followed along. “You’ve been very busy since you started working here, it sounds like! We got to hear all sorts of rumors from the crew that was working down there on the tank. Of course, no one saw Victor, but it was still a lot of fun speculating. I was even a little bit jealous!”

“Ah, yes. I have been busy. Victor… that is, V527 needs a lot of care right now.” Yuuri knew he was beginning to act stiff, but he didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t supposed to talk about Victor to anyone, even the other researchers here, and he had signed all the NDAs to prove it, even if he was already violating them.

Luckily, someone called for Minami from a few work stations down, and Minami left with a profusion of apologies after making Yuuri promise to come get him if he needed help with _anything_ , anything at all. Minami was a good person, Yuuri thought, but a bit overwhelming. Relieved to be on his own for the moment, Yuuri gathered his thoughts again and started setting up his test.

Yuuri focused hard for a couple of hours, accomplishing as much as he could in aa short a time as possible, being careful to send all his results directly to the drive that had been assigned to him and deleting any information left afterward. Victor’s privacy was something to take seriously, even if it might not be for the same reasons that Ms. Saunders would say.

At some point another man started working at the station next to Yuuri’s. He was so quiet that it took Yuuri a while to even notice he was there. He had dark hair and dark eyes and a somber expression, and Yuuri peeked glances at him a couple of times, but he never seemed to be paying any attention to Yuuri, so Yuuri was able to comfortably ignore him.

Yuuri didn’t pay him any attention when he left for a few minutes, but when he came back again leading Bravo, he could no longer continue ignoring the man. Bravo was clearly well trained and the researcher very familiar with him, and he made a quick hand gesture that had Bravo politely sitting before collecting a fur sample. Yuuri watched the pair out of the corner of his eye for a few minutes as he started his next round of tests. Every minute or so, the researcher’s hand would slip down and scratch Bravo between the ears before going back to work. Another dog lover, Yuuri was certain. After scribbling some more notes down in his notebook, he took in a bracing breath and turned to face the other researcher.

“Hello. I’m Yuuri Katsuki,” he said. “Are you Bravo’s handler?” Was that even the right term? Yuuri wasn’t sure how things worked on the main floor of the lab. Did the researchers work with one animal or with many? Yuuri could feel a blush itching at the back of his neck, but he tried his best to keep a friendly expression on his face.

The researcher didn’t even turn to look at him at first. The silence hung awkwardly for thirty, sixty seconds, and then the man looked up with a frown. “Were you speaking to me?”

“Ah, um, yes.” Yuuri knew he was definitely blushing now. “I was just introducing myself. I’m—”

“I know,” he said abruptly, turning back to his workstation.

“Oh.” Yuuri stumbled to a halt. “I… We might have met the other day, but I’m afraid I don’t remember your name.”

The man sighed loudly and turned to face Yuuri again. “Seung-gil Lee, biologist, no PhD.”

Yuuri straightened in his seat, trying not to be intimidated by Lee’s abrupt manner. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Did you need something?”

Yuuri hesitated for a few seconds, then pushed himself to speak. “Do you mind if I pet Bravo?”

Lee blinked, and even though his face didn’t seem to change, something around his eyes spoke to surprise. “That’s fine,” he finally said.

Yuuri slid off his seat in a blink, dropping to his knees beside Bravo and scrubbing his hands through the fur on his sides in greeting. Bravo started panting happily.

“You remember me, don’t you, Bravo? Yes, you’re such a smart boy! And you love scratches, yes you do. Such a _good_ boy.” Yuuri found a spot that had Bravo groaning in pleasure and melting from his perfect sitting posture to a soft puddle on the floor. “Oh, does Bravo want some belly rubs, too?” Of course, Yuuri indulged him, only stopping when Bravo gently took Yuuri’s wrist in his mouth, revealing a set of massive incisors, and proceeded to give him puppy kisses until Yuuri’s arm was dripping with saliva.

Laughing, Yuuri stood up again, to Bravo’s whining disappointment, and found a towel in a drawer to wipe off his arm. He looked back up at Lee, who had been watching in silence the whole time. “Thanks. The other day, some of the researchers said it wasn’t a good idea to pet him, but I know a good boy when I see one.” Yuuri couldn’t stop his smile, even if Lee was still looking quite intimidating.

But Lee just nodded, and his mouth moved slightly upward at the corners. “Bravo is a very good boy,” he said simply and turned back to his workstation once more.

Yuuri turned back to his work, as well, but he kept an easy smile. It was good to know that there were other people here who appreciated dogs they way they deserved.

~*~

For the first time in a week, Yuuri ate his lunch at the company cafeteria. He started off at a table alone, but since he wasn’t two hours past the lunch rush this time, he didn’t stay that way long. He was joined by the ever-effervescent Minami not long after he started in on his salad and chicken. Soon a young woman joined as well, introducing herself as Sara Crispino, and she neatly diverted the conversation away from the forbidden topic of Victor to her own work. It seemed she worked primarily with the various reptile (and reptile-related) animals, and she cooed about the hot-blooded Lima for a good twenty minutes. By that time, Yuuri had finished his lunch and was ready to get back to work, but Minami and Sara kept him trapped in conversation for another ten minutes before he made his excuses and returned to the lab.

He had left one test running while he had gone to lunch, which made him feel a little bit guilty, since technically anyone could have sneaked a peek at it while he was gone. But they wouldn’t be able to learn much from it, and the lab was nearly empty at lunch time anyway. It seemed undisturbed when he returned and still had a few minutes left till it spit out results, which made Yuuri feel a little better about deserting his post.

He traced absent doodles in his notebook while he waited, subtly observing the people still in the lab. In a far corner, an exuberant researcher that Yuuri was pretty sure was named JJ—or something else with initials—was trying to train a large cat-like creature to do… something. Yuuri couldn’t tell what they were attempting to do, but JJ was being very enthusiastic with his praise for the creature, and Yuuri approved of that.

The machine in front of him beeped, and Yuuri jerked his attention back to the test he was supposed to be working on. A long chain of results spit out on the neighboring computer, but Yuuri didn’t take the time to read them now. Instead, he just saved everything to his drive and made sure to erase all the results from the automatic backup the computers kept for twenty-four hours. He removed and discarded the used sample, and gathered his notebook to go back downstairs to his own lab. He should be able to move Victor to the big tank by now, and Yuuri was excited to see how he would like it. Maybe he would introduce a few live fish today as well, even though he had originally planned to leave that for tomorrow.

As soon as Yuuri stepped off the elevator, he could hear Victor’s warbling “Yuuuuuurrrriiiiii!” He turned toward the auxiliary tank with a jerk, but Victor was propped up on the edge and waving happily. “Yuuri, waaater!”

Yuuri laughed. “Yes, Victor. The water is almost done. Let me just check on it, okay?” He dropped his bag at his desk and hurried around the tank to check the inset computer controlling the water flow, ignoring the delighted chirping behind him. The tank was almost full, with just a few dozen gallons still to go, but it’s close enough for Yuuri to start getting Victor ready to move. After double- and triple-checking that the water was set to shut off automatically in a few more minutes when it finished, Yuuri left it to its own devices and grabbed the gurney to gather Victor from the auxiliary tank.

As soon as Victor saw Yuuri pushing the gurney, he splashed with glee, sending a small wave of water over the edge of the tank and onto the floor below. “Victor!” Yuuri called in exasperation, but Victor just poked his head up above the edge of the tank and grinned unrepentantly down at Yuuri.

“I’m coming, impatient brat,” Yuuri muttered with a grin he couldn’t quite suppress, and he crammed the gurney onto the lift and headed up.

When he reached the top, Victor was already struggling to heave himself over the edge of the tank. “Slow down, Victor,” Yuuri said, grabbing his arm before he slipped right over the edge and onto his head. Victor just grabbed onto the edge of the gurney to steady himself and pulled it the last few inches closer. Working together, they got Victor onto the gurney with less mess than last time, although Yuuri was still smeared with slime. They made it down to the floor without incident, even though Victor was squirmy in his anxiousness, and Yuuri started pushing the gurney over to the other tank.

Then he got an idea. He hesitated halfway between the two tanks, and Victor looked back at him with a slightly anxious pout. “Yuuuri.”

“I… I want to show you something, Victor. While you’re out of the tank.” Yuuri hesitated, glancing between the main tank and the collection of small ones off to the side. “It won’t take long,” he muttered and started turning the gurney toward the small tanks. Victor whined a little, but watched curiously as they approached.

Yuuri parked the gurney in front of the tanks and gestured toward them. “What do you think? Anything here that you like?”

Victor eyed Yuuri carefully for a minute, then leaned forward to observe the tanks more closely. At Victor’s impatient handwaving, Yuuri started pushing him slowly along the full row of tanks. At each one, Victor examined the contents thoroughly, and Yuuri observed his reactions. He grabbed a nearby marker and made notes on the tanks, marking the ones that Victor seemed interested in and which ones he moved on from. Victor caught on quickly and began exaggerating his reactions, going so far as to dip his hand in one tank to attempt to catch a fish, only to end up nearly falling off the gurney.

When they finished their tour of potential additions to the main tank, Yuuri wheeled the gurney over the lift. Victor hummed and babbled happily as they rode upward. Yuuri thought he caught a couple of audible words, but mostly he thought that Victor was just trying out sounds. He already listened more closely to everything that Yuuri said, trying to pick out words he knew and decipher new ones. He had caught on fast so far, but Yuuri worried that he would get stuck on his progress. Language was complex, and Yuuri wasn’t really sure how to teach someone how to use it. It wasn’t something that had come up in his classes, unsurprisingly.

Then again, babies learned without being “taught,” right? Not that Yuuri had a lot of experience with babies, but maybe Victor would be able to learn even if Yuuri did suck as a teacher. He had heard somewhere that if a child didn’t learn language before they were too old, they could never really learn, but Victor didn’t seem to have that problem, not yet. Yuuri would just have to hope that continued to be the case.

Besides, he reminded himself, eventually Victor would be back with his own people, and this whole thing would be a moot point.

Distracted, Yuuri hadn’t noticed that they had arrived and Victor was wiggling the gurney up to the edge by himself. “Sorry!” Yuuri pushed the gurney snug to the tank and locked the wheels. Victor gripped the edge of the tank but hesitated before diving in, staring back at Yuuri as if waiting for something, but Yuuri didn’t know what. “Victor?”

Victor tipped his head to the side and then smiled very softly. Then he flipped backward into the tank. He popped up moments later. “Yuuuri! Waaaarm!”

Yuuri dismissed the momentary oddity of Victor’s mood and smiled. “Good. I’m glad you like it better.”

Victor flipped his tail and splashed Yuuri, splattering his glasses with droplets, then dove back down and didn’t resurface immediately, presumably doing a more thorough exploration of the tank. With a contented sigh, Yuuri went back down to the floor and settled down at his computer to review and compile results from all the testing he had completed today. Even though he still had more tests he needed to do, he had a lot of information to pick apart just from today.

However, none of the research he had gathered would provide any helpful evidence for NuHuman. The envelope that Yuuri had received from Yuri last night was hidden under his mattress back at his apartment. Not a very creative hiding place, but it hadn’t been a very incriminating document either. They wanted brain scans. As if that were something easy to get when Victor was a top secret specimen who couldn’t leave the lab and the only scanner was in the open lab one floor up. They wanted details on his genomes, something that might indicate how closely he was genetically related to humans, as if that wasn’t something that took years to document. They wanted video evidence of advanced reasoning skills, as if learning just to communicate with Victor wasn’t hard enough right now. Was he supposed to play math games and debate philosophy as well? Yuuri didn’t understand how they expected him to get this information.

But Yuuri would try, for Victor’s sake. Because Victor deserved more than to live the rest of his life in a tank in a basement. Even if it was starting to be a nicer tank now that Yuuri was here.

Yuuri was distracted from his downward-spiraling thoughts by a chime from his computer: he had a new email.

It was from Ms. Saunders, and she had a detailed list of tests she wanted him to start working on, now that the tank renovations were completed. At least her requests were reasonable. But as Yuuri scrolled down the list, his stomach began to clench tight in dread. Some of the tests were… invasive, to say the least. And he still didn’t know enough about Victor’s biology to safely give him pain relief or anesthetic, even if he felt comfortable doing some of these procedures. He wouldn’t want to do them even if Victor weren’t a person. They were… cruel. At the very end of the email, in an addendum so small he almost missed it, she mentioned that she would stop by on Monday to see the new tank.

Yuuri hesitated for a while, mindlessly collating and inputting data from his earlier tests without trying to analyze any of it yet. Eventually though, he had to respond. He knew he couldn’t refuse, either the testing or the visit. If Ms. Saunders didn’t think he was cooperating, she could just get rid of him, and where would that leave Victor? In a tank without any care or any hope of getting out.

Reluctantly, he tapped out a polite agreement and hit send. The visit shouldn’t be difficult, as long as Victor didn’t talk to her. Yuuri couldn’t imagine Victor wanting to interact with her at all, honestly. As for the test, Yuuri could do the easy ones first, the harmless ones. He just had to find enough evidence to give to NuHuman and get Victor out of here before he had to do any of the… bad tests. Yeah. That was all.

Yuuri shoved away from his computer and grabbed a bucket from a pile. Time to give Victor a treat and some supper. He could worry about evidence and unethical testing later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My life is going through some big changes right now, including starting a brand-new full-time job today! I'm honestly not sure how it's all going to shake out at this point, but rest assured, Sea Change is completely written and edited and I will continue to post once a week, although my schedule might change later down the road. Thank you so much for all your comments, kudos, and support! Come bug me on Twitter @lexical_dreamer


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Yuuri's anxiety... Expect a lot of anxiety in the coming chapters. Nothing specific, though!

_“We know that this will be a difficult task for you, especially having no one there to help you, but you must try to get results to us as quickly as possible. We don’t know what kind of plans they might have for the future.”_

_“Do you think they might_ hurt _them?”_

_“We don’t know, Dr. Katsuki, but we don’t want to risk it.”_

~*~

The weekend went by in a blur of activity. Even though he didn’t _have_ to go into work, he couldn’t in good conscience leave Victor there alone, especially in a brand new tank environment that he wasn’t used to. He spent a few hours at the lab in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday, feeding Victor, checking on the tank, and teaching Victor more words. By the time Sunday evening rolled around, he felt exhausted and overwhelmed, even though he had been able to sleep longer than usual. He sat on the couch, staring mindlessly at the TV, but he couldn’t have told someone what he was watching. Worries spun in the back of his mind, too nebulous to catch and analyze, and anxieties of everything that might go wrong on Monday’s visit hovered in the background. He wanted someone to talk to about this, someone who could help him peel apart the layers of his anxiety, but instead he was trapped in his own head. He went to bed with a crampy stomach and he wasn’t sure if it was because he had eaten too much or not at all. He couldn’t remember.

When Yuuri woke up the next morning, he stared at the ceiling for long minutes. The window was still dark, no slats of light filtering through his blinds to stripe the ceiling like usual. He grabbed his phone eventually, only to find that it was still an hour until his alarm was supposed to go off, and he had text messages waiting for him.

**Mari:** I’m going to call him Yurio. Two Yuuris is too confusing. You can call him whatever you want. Kaasan said Sunday morning would be best, if that works out for you. Phichit says to stop ignoring his hamster photos or he’s going to show up on your doorstep someday. Take care of yourself, little brother.

**Yuuri:** I can’t call him that to his face he’d probably hit me. Sunday is fine. Does 10 your time work? And Phichit needs to stop taking so many photos of his hamsters. I can’t keep up with all his photoshoots and it’s not my fault.

Yuuri smiled fondly as he sent the message to his sister, then switched over to his message history with Phichit, which was unsurprisingly filled with a long chain of new messages. He had been ignoring him all weekend, too busy spiraling and taking care of Victor.

**Phichit** : hows the cutie

**Phichit:** i still need deets

**Phichit:** its not fair that i dont even know what they look like

**Phichit:** are you ignoring me

**Phichit:** you haven’t liked my latest photos of Coco!!

**Phichit:** she deserves better than this she is a queen and deserves to be loved how dare you

**Phichit:** im going to tattle to your sister if you dont respond soon

**Phichit:** yuuri?

**Yuuri:** sorry phichit this weekend has been busy. and i told you there’s no cutie

**Phichit:** youre a lying liar and i know it

**Yuuri:** why are you up righ tnow?!

**Phichit:** bitch im ALWAYS up

**Yuuri:** ew

**Phichit:** :((

**Phichit:** anyway, cutie news?

**Yuuri:** sighs theres no news bc theres no cutie

**Phichit:** ok liar

**Phichit:** y are YOU up? r thye working u too hard?

**Yuuri:** no just thinking about work things. have a problem i have to figure out… soon

**Phichit:** anything i can help you brainstorm with? u kno we work good together

**Yuuri:** not with this one but thanks for the offer. ill figure it out

**Phichit:** ok…… try not to worry yourself into a hole. i WILL come to yor house and snuggle you with hamsters >:(

**Yuuri:** ill be fine. and ill like all your photos of coco

**Phichit:** u betteer! love you

**Yuuri:** love you too :)

Yuuri set his phone aside feeling a little bit more cheerful, even if he knew it was only temporary. As much as talking to Phichit and his sister could always lift his mood, they couldn’t solve his problems for him. Resigned to feeling headachey and distracted for the rest of the day, Yuuri headed for the shower in the hopes that hot water might at least help the body aches that came with not sleeping enough.

~*~

Victor wasn’t immediately visible when Yuuri made it down to the lab that morning, still feeling tired and achy. After a few moments of searching the still mostly empty tank, Yuuri spotted a blurry pale streak in the furthest back corner. The depth of the tank made it difficult to see any details that far away, but it was a vast improvement over the visibility of mere feet from before. It looked like Victor had tucked himself into a divot in the sand back there, curled up tightly and possibly sleeping still. Yuuri wondered if Victor had actually dug into the sand himself in trying to create some kind of nest. Yuuri mentally added depositing a couple of the more maneuverable rocks to the tank to his to-do list for the day.

In her email on Friday, Ms. Saunders had said she would be dropping in after lunch. That left him with plenty of hours to fret about it, but hopefully he could also get some work done in the meantime.

Leaving Victor to his rest, Yuuri dropped his stuff off at his desk and started digging into the results from the testing from last week. In many ways, there weren’t a lot of surprises. Victor’s body was a fantastic mix of fish and mammal biology, and his blood results proved that out. If anything, though, he was more… _human-like_ than Yuuri had expected. With care, he started entering every detail and conjecture into a thoroughly organized database, one that could serve as a springboard for researching an entirely new species. There was so much that could be discovered about these… merpeople. All Yuuri could do here, in this lab, with his experience, was the biology portion. But just trying to imagine what kind of culture might exist out there under the waves… It was fascinating.

As he built his database and slotted in more tiny bits of information, the gaps in his data became more and more obvious. So much was still unknown. A few easy blood tests only scratched the surface.

Of course, that brought him to the tests that both NuHuman and Ms. Saunders wanted him to do. NuHuman’s requests, aimed toward verifying Victor’s intelligence, weren’t invasive, but took time and equipment that he couldn’t easily access, not without revealing Victor to the rest of the researchers here. If he wanted to get Victor out of here soon, he would have to find another solution.

And he _needed_ to get Victor out of here soon, because Ms. Saunders’ requests… She had clearly taken into account the fact that he couldn’t take Victor for a trip up to the main lab, but that meant that some of the tests she wanted were far more invasive—and painful—than Yuuri was willing to do. He couldn’t casually treat Victor like some lab rat, something to be learned from and then disposed of. Even if he were just a pretty fish, he could never do that. It was too cruel.

Eventually he was drawn out of his spiraling thoughts and absent data entry by a call from behind him. “Yuuri?”

Yuuri pulled in a deep breath and plastered a smile across his face before he turned to face the tank. “Good morning, Victor! How do you like the tank?”

Victor leaned on the edge of the tank and watched Yuuri with a solemn expression for a solid twenty seconds, until Yuuri started to shift uncomfortably in his ergonomically correct chair. Then he smiled. “Gooo’ mo’ning, Yuuri! Waaa’m waater.” He splashed a little for emphasis.

Yuuri sighed and nodded, grateful that whatever had put that too-serious expression on Victor’s face had passed. “That’s good. Does it need to be warmer?”

Laying his head to one side, Victor hmmmed. “Waaa’m-errr?”

“Umm…” Yuuri looked around his work area, as if inspiration would suddenly jump out of a desk drawer. How was he supposed to explain this? “Warmer. Like…” Yuuri flapped his hands around uselessly. Then he grabbed a towel from the nearby stack of clean ones and tromped up the stairs to the catwalk. Yuuri took one of Victor’s hands in his. Thankfully it wasn’t as chilly as it had been the previous times they had touched, although it was just as slippery as usual. “Warm, yes?” he asked, lifting up Victor’s hand a bit.

Victor eyed their joined hands and nodded hesitantly. “Waa’m,” he confirmed.

Wrapping the towel around Victor’s hand and wiping it dry, he quickly chafed the skin with the soft fabric. He felt Victor’s hand again, and as he had hoped, the skin felt warmer, although dry and chapped. Hopefully this wouldn’t end up being more confusing than he had planned. “Warmer?”

Victor spent a long minute staring at his hand and the towel and Yuuri, trying to figure something out or maybe decide exactly which change was “warmer.” Shit, Yuuri was so bad at this. He was a biologist, not a… whatever language people were called.

Finally Victor nodded. “Wa’m. Wa’m- _err_.” Then he pulled his hand back and splashed the surface of the water lightly. “ _Good_ wa’m.”

Well, it seemed that Victor was content with his tank, anyway. Even if Yuuri wasn’t one hundred percent sure whether Victor got what he was trying to explain. Maybe he should look up some stuff on language learning when he got home. Surely there were some Youtube videos out there that would help with this.

Victor didn’t seem to be worrying about a potential misunderstanding, though. He slid a few feet to the right, where a jar of slime was permanently stationed for Victor to use whenever he wanted to, and slathered up his hand. He babbled at Yuuri for a few minutes, and Yuuri nodded along with a fond smile, although the only words he could really make out were his own name, “tank,” and something that was probably “fish.”

At the reminder, Yuuri scanned the tank for the fish he had added over the weekend. Eventually he spotted two survivors. The rest had apparently already served as dinner for Victor, or were hiding in the far reaches of the tank. Yuuri made a mental note to add it to his observations on Victor’s diet once he was back at his computer.

The day after that passed quickly, despite the hovering anxiety of Ms. Saunders’ upcoming visit. Yuuri managed to drop two of the smaller rocks into the tank with the crane, which Victor was ecstatic about. (Victor was also, it seemed, very handy at figuring out how to unbuckle harnesses, and Yuuri didn’t have to put on his wetsuit to go to retrieve them, as he had anticipated.) Afterward, Yuuri took his lunch break, and was again bombarded with chatter from the talkative duo of Minami and Sara (although he admitted quietly to himself that today he found it a little less annoying and a little more amusing).

After lunch, he made his way back down to his lab and eyed his watch. Ms. Saunders hadn’t given him a precise time, so he couldn’t start any testing or anything that couldn’t be easily interrupted. He settled on browsing the small tanks for new additions. He put a few more of the same fish as yesterday in his bucket, because clearly Victor liked them fine, and he wanted to avoid changing things too quickly. He eyed a couple of other fish varieties, but decided to put them off for another day, instead grabbing a few samples of seaweed that Victor had seemed particularly excited about. The fish were easy to dump in without preparation, but for the plants, he carefully wrapped some frail roots around small rocks from the leftover substrate supplies and dropped them at intervals along the tank edge, stretching out so they wouldn’t all be clustered up against the glass.

Finally, he took a walk around the tank. Some of the plants he had put in last week were too far toward the middle of the tank to see clearly, but the ones near the edges showed clear signs of being nibbled by the surviving fish, which was good. One plant near the back corner had been stripped of nearly all of its leaves, presumably by Victor, but Yuuri wasn’t sure if he had eaten them or stashed them somewhere else in the tank for an unknown purpose. He jotted down notes just the same, adding his speculations in parentheses. He would have to catch Victor in the act or learn to communicate better to find out for sure.

In the furthest and darkest corner, where he had seen Victor resting this morning, Yuuri does find a shallow, hollowed-out spot in the sand, though Victor hadn’t dug deep enough into the substrate to bare the larger rocks. As he watched, Victor was busy dragging the second large rock toward the back corner. When he caught sight of Yuuri, he froze for a few seconds, hands clenching down on the rock. Then he smiled tentatively and continued his work, digging a furrow in the sand as he heaved the rock across the floor.

Yuuri scribbled down a couple more notes and tapped lightly on the glass with one finger. When Victor looked up again, still looking unsure, Yuuri smiled and waved until Victor gave a more genuine smile back, and then continued on his tour around the tank.

As he rounded the tank into his main work area, he saw Ms. Saunders standing by his desk, perusing the few papers and notes he had scattered about. He hesitated for a few seconds, a wave of panic rushing through him before he managed to calm himself with the reminder that there was nothing incriminating. Just test results and notes on the tank. He wondered how long she had been there, if she had been watching, but he dismissed the worry and approached.

“Hello Ms. Saunders,” he said politely, forcing himself to hold his notebook by his side instead of clutching it to his chest defensively. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long.”

She hummed noncommittally instead of giving a direct answer, but nodded toward the tank. “It certainly looks better than it did a couple of weeks ago. It seems our investment in you was well worth it.” She gave him a tiny, approving smile, and Yuuri felt his knees go weak with relief. She wasn’t suspicious, not at all.

They spent a few minutes talking about the tank, and Yuuri pointed out the various changes he was making. Eventually, as he had been expecting and dreading, she stepped up to the glass and rapped on it. He held his breath for the few seconds that it took Victor to appear, but appear he did. Less hesitantly than he had that first time, but with nowhere near his normal exuberance. He had already caught on. Yuuri let out his exhale quietly.

Victor floated a few feet away from the glass, head stubbornly turned aside, but Ms. Saunders nodded, seeming pleased. “It looks much healthier than before. I’m quite impressed, Dr. Katsuki. Mr. Alfaro will be pleased to hear of your progress.”

Yuuri frowned. “Mr. Alfaro? You mean, the founder? I didn’t realize he was still… involved.”

“Not on paper, but Selma Corp is his passion project. He likes to stay up-to-date on the more intriguing specimens.” She eyed Victor dispassionately. “I do wonder if he’d be interested in seeing V527 in person. I’ll have to mention it to him.”

Yuuri swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and tried to stay attentive as she moved to another topic. She didn’t remain in the lab much longer, and it was only a few more minutes before he was walking with her toward the elevator. As they waited for the elevator to arrive, she said, “I look forward to more progress reports on this specimen, Dr. Katsuki. I’m sure there are many fascinating things still to be learned.”

The elevator arrived before Yuuri could think of an appropriate response, and he gladly wished her a good day.

Back at his work area, he spent a few minutes collecting his nerves. He still had notes to type up from his observations, but that felt like too much effort for the moment. Victor was hiding in the back of the tank again, which Yuuri couldn’t blame him for, so he decided to continue his testing. He ripped out his notes to be typed later and set them aside. As much as the restrictions frustrated him, he was trying his best to follow them. With his newly empty notebook and the remains of his blood sample, he headed up to the main lab to do a few more tests before the day was gone.

He didn’t have as many choices for workstations today. It seemed all the researchers were busy tapping away at equipment and computers, hardly any cryptids out of their habitats, unlike the usual zoo-like atmosphere of the place. Yuuri carefully wove his way to an empty workstation, murmuring apologies that were lost in the chatter as he tried to avoid bumping into anything delicate. Finally, he arrived at the workstation he had picked out and set his notebook and sample down with a sigh, before logging in and queuing up the appropriate tests he needed to run.

He startled when the researcher next to him leaned into his space. “Heeey, Yuuri, right?”

Yuuri jerked and nearly dropped the sample he was transferring as he looked toward the other man. This was the one he had seen yesterday working with the cat-like creature. “Hi,” Yuuri said shortly, still tense from being startled. “Yes, I’m Yuuri. And you’re… JJ?”

The man grinned broadly. “That’s right! Guess you’ve heard of me. I’ve published a few papers, you know.”

“Ahh… yes.” Yuuri nodded, even though he wasn’t sure what he was talking about. Yuuri was just lucky to remember his name from the blur of introductions a couple weeks ago. Hoping that was the end of the conversation, he turned back to his sample, carefully setting it into the machine and starting the first test.

Apparently, JJ was simply waiting for Yuuri to finish up. “Yeah,” he continued. “My wife Isabella is pretty much a genius, too. We’re working on a project together right now. Gonna see if we can get it published in _The Journal of Zoology_.” JJ nodded and stared at Yuuri with a big smile, but Yuuri wasn’t sure what kind of response he was expecting.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to need much in the way of responses. For the next four hours, as Yuuri puttered his way through tests, JJ talked. And talked. Once Yuuri figured out that JJ didn’t require replies, it turned out to be not so bad. JJ rambled on about his work and himself and his wife, “the one true love of his life.” It was kind of sweet, even if it was a bit annoying. Once Yuuri relaxed, it was easy to just let JJ’s blather roll over him, inserting hmms and ahhs when it seemed appropriate. And at least he didn’t ask probing questions or try to talk about Victor all the time. That just made it awkward when Yuuri couldn’t respond.

When Yuuri was done with his testing for the day, it took him a few minutes to disentangle himself from the conversation with JJ. He was going on about some vacation he and Isabella had been on last year, where they had encountered something called a barmanou. Or maybe it had been a research trip? Yuuri hadn’t been paying attention to all of the details, but he waited until JJ took a pause and quietly excused himself. JJ didn’t seem to take offense, sending him off with a cheerful smile and a promise to finish the story later.

It was nice, Yuuri thought as he rode the elevator back down to his lab, to be able to talk with a coworker who didn’t want to know all about the one thing that Yuuri couldn’t talk about, even if Yuuri didn’t do much of the talking today. Or maybe because of that. Listening to other people’s stories was much easier than trying to come up with his own. At least theirs were usually interesting.

Yuuri dropped his notebook on his desk and checked to make sure all the results from his testing were where they should be, then started packing up his bag to go home, glad to be done for the day. Despite the fact that JJ wasn’t a bad conversation partner, it had still been… a lot, especially after the visit from Ms. Saunders. Yuuri was very happy to be going home to a quiet apartment. Or well, maybe not _happy_ , but content. Perhaps there were some people he wouldn’t mind talking to, or simply being around, for hours after the work day was done, but none of those people were here now.

He glanced at Victor’s tank, and Victor immediately poked his head out of the water and over the edge, calling, “Yuuri!”

Yuuri wandered closer and leaned back to smile up at him. “Hey, Victor. I’m about ready to head home. Do you need anything?”

Victor pouted at him, sending a purposeful splash of water down on him, but Yuuri just wiped his glasses with his sleeve and continued staring up. “Yuuri… stay Fiictor?”

Yuuri shook his head. “I can’t stay with you all night, Victor. I’m sorry. I’ll be back in the morning though!” He waited for a minute for Victor to respond again, but he just pouted and splashed about a bit more. “Good night, Victor.”

Yuuri dimmed the lights on his way out, and as the elevator doors slid shut behind him, he could have almost sworn he heard a very quiet “Good nigh’, Yuuri” behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What even is life anymore? I certainly don't know. Things are still up in the air regarding jobs and whatnot, but I'll still be here posting every Monday. Thank you all so much for your encouragement, comments, and kudos!!!! 💖


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: none for this chapter

_“Remember, you have my work and personal numbers, if you ever need assistance. NuHuman Group is an open book to you. If you need to contact us, we’ll be here.”_

_“Thank you, that’s… reassuring.”_

_“Of course, Dr. Katsuki. We want this to work out as much as you do.”_

~*~

The next morning was much the same as the previous one. Yuuri added more rocks to the tank for Victor to rearrange. After the first one, Victor got demanding and started trying to direct Yuuri from the tank. Yuuri did the best he could, but Victor was already starting to rearrange by the time Yuuri had secured the crane again.

Next he checked on all the small tanks to make sure the various plants and fish were still thriving, sprinkling food and adjusting filters as he went. He made another walk around the main tank as well, taking notes on how many fish were still swimming around and how the plants were faring. He thought he might add another variety of fish to the tank later, one of the ones that Victor had selected that would mesh well with the fish and plants already in the tank.

Eventually he ran out of observations to make and settled down at his desk to make sense of his notes. He updated his painstakingly detailed daily observation log and lost himself in reviewing the results from yesterday’s bout of testing for a while. His stomach giving out a protesting growl was the only thing that alerted him to the passing of time.

He saved his progress in the database and marked his notes, then grabbed his lunch. He had decided to pack today instead of braving the cafeteria like usual. Yesterday had turned out to be a little overwhelming, and Yuuri really just wanted a quiet day, since he had the opportunity. He was quite happy to spend his lunch chatting with Victor instead of his coworkers. Not that he was much quieter than JJ or Minami now that he had a handle on… well, vocalizing, if not speech exactly.

Yuuri sat on the catwalk with his sandwich and fruit and coached Victor through pronouncing anything he could point at. He quickly become competent at asking “Whaat? Whaat?” and patting Yuuri’s arms excitedly every time his pronunciation got a “good” from Yuuri. Eventually, Yuuri did manage to finish his sandwich, but it took much longer than it would have without Victor interrupting every minute or so to ask for more words.

Once Yuuri pulled out his bag of fresh fruit, Victor stopped babbling about scissors and goggles for a minute and stared. Finally he pointed. “Whaat food?” he asked, leaning as close he could without falling over the edge of the tank.

“Oh, it’s, um, fruit,” Yuuri said, lifting up the bag so that Victor can see it better.

“Ffruuut,” he said quietly, watching closely.

“There’s apples, here,” Yuuri spoke and pointed. “And some grapes and blackberries.”

Victor hmmmed for a minute, then said, “Fiictor, ffruuut?”

“I…” Yuuri hesitated, glancing back and forth between the bag of cut fruit in his hands and the puppy eyes that Victor was giving him as he hung over Yuuri’s shoulder. He considered it seriously for a minute, but all signs were pointing toward Victor and his digestive system being far more human than fish, so Yuuri gave in. He dug in the bag until he had one sample of each and offered it on his palm to Victor. “Okay. You can try it.”

Victor gave a happy chirp, a sound that was disappearing now that he was learning more words, and leaned a few inches closer, poking at each piece gently with his finger. “Appaa,” he pronounced, daintily selecting the apple slice and picking it up. He nibbled on the very edge of it, then beamed at Yuuri, munching down half the slice in one bite. “Yuuri!” he enthused, still chewing on the apple. “Good!” He scrunched up his nose adorably and seemed to be reaching for a word, even as he popped the rest in his mouth.

“It’s sweet,” Yuuri offered, knowing that Victor likely hadn’t encountered any flavors quite like it before.

“Suuueeet! Yuuri, suueeet!” Victor beamed in delight and eagerly looked down at the remaining pieces of fruit. “Whaat fruut?” he asked, pointing.

“Grape,” Yuuri responded, and Victor snatched it up without hesitation this time, biting it clean in half and humming at the juice that squirted out.

“Grraape suueet!”

Yuuri chuckled at Victor’s excitement, but just nodded and watched as he scarfed up the remnants of the grape, licking any lingering bits of juice off of his fingers.

“Whaat fruut,” Victor said again, this time sounding more like a demand and less like a question.

“Blackberry,” Yuuri said, not bothering to stifle his grin. It was so good to watch Victor discover things.

“Bllaackbehry,” he repeated dutifully and grabbed the last bit of fruit. This time he put the whole thing in his mouth and chomped down, then froze for a second in shock. Yuuri couldn’t stop the quiet snicker. “Blaackbehry fish?”

“Fish? No…” Yuuri squinted at Victor in confusion even as he continued to chew contemplatively at the blackberry.

“Fish…” Victor frowned and tugged impatiently at a strand of hair. “Blaackbehry more?” he asked instead.

Curious to see what Victor was trying to explain, he pulled another blackberry out of the bag and handed it to him. Delicately, Victor picked apart the berry with his nails, smearing purple-red juice all over his hands. He extracted a single seed and held it out to Yuuri. “Fish? No fish… Fish fruut?”

“Ah,” Yuuri said quietly, taking the seed from Victor. Victor immediately popped the remains of the berry into his mouth and started cleaning up his messy hands, but he continued watching Yuuri closely. “It’s not a fish, and fish aren’t fruit. This is a seed.” He held up the tiny round ball that was stuck to the tip of his finger with juice. “Fruit have seeds. Fish have bones.”

“Fruut, seed. Fish, boone,” Victor repeated quietly. Then he pointed to the bag of fruit still sitting in Yuuri’s lap. “No seed?”

“Well, I cut the seeds out the apple already,” Yuuri said offhandedly. “I’ll bring one in tomorrow to show you. But the grapes…” He pulled one out and bit off one end before smearing the goop around on his palm. They were seedless grapes, of course, but that just meant that the seeds were underdeveloped, not that they weren’t there at all. He smushed the grape flesh until he could point out the tiny specks of seeds to Victor. “See? They’re just small.”

Victor leaned closer and hummed. “Smmaaal.” Victor narrowed his eyes and nodded. Then he pointed toward the auxiliary tank. “Smmaal tank.” He pointed down at the water he was floating in. “No smmaal tank?” he questioned.

Yuuri grinned. “Big. Big tank.”

“Biiig! Biiig tank!” Victor flipped his tail in excitement, showering some water over Yuuri’s head and shoulders. Yuuri was used to it by now, as Victor couldn’t seem to resist splashing whenever he got excited about something, which was often. He just wiped a few drops off his glasses and nodded along.

Eventually, Yuuri did finish his fruit, although he shared some more with Victor, since he wouldn’t stop whining about it. After lunch, he continued inputting more results from yesterday’s testing into his database.

Tomorrow, he knew, he would have to give in and collect more samples, and more than just blood this time. He wasn’t looking forward to it. But if he didn’t start giving some kind of results to Ms. Saunders soon, she would start asking questions. She had already said in her last email that she wanted weekly reports on his progress. If all he had to show was some blood tests, she wouldn’t be happy.

If only he could record one of his sessions with Victor and use that as proof. He was so intelligent and curious, it was impossible to deny that he was a person after interacting with him like Yuuri did. But Yuuri knew that that wouldn’t fly with NuHuman. Videos were too easy to fake. They wanted solid scientific evidence to back up their claims. It was the only way to get Victor out of here safely.

Right?

He shook his head and kept typing away, absent-mindedly listening to Victor practicing his new words in the background. He was spending more time at the surface of the tank lately, to interact with Yuuri and to practice speaking, and Yuuri wondered if that would have any negative repercussions on his physiology. He hoped not. Victor did seem fairly well-adapted to handling air, even if not dry environments exclusively. Yuuri could give him a thorough check-up tomorrow, since he would have to be out of the tank anyway for Yuuri to take samples. Even if Yuuri was still learning about Victor’s biology, he could at least try to keep him in good health.

At the end of the day, Yuuri checked in with Victor one last time, and promised him more rocks and fish in the morning, before dimming the lights in the lab and heading home for the day. Maybe he could find some more fruit other than just an apple to bring tomorrow. He contemplated what other foods might be safe for Victor to eat for the entire trip home.

~*~

He had another meeting with Yuri that evening, but it wasn’t until eight o’clock this time. Yuuri had time to go home and shower off the saltwater that was a daily hazard now that Victor so enjoyed splashing. He changed into something comfy, instead of dressing up. He was tired, and he was meeting with an barely eighteen-year-old intern at a coffee shop. Less formal was okay, he had decided.

For the first time, Yuri was already there when Yuuri arrived, even though he was a few minutes early as usual. He checked his cell phone to be sure. Yes, it was still five minutes until eight. Yuuri eyed the younger man as he got in line for his tea. Yuri was seated at what had become their table, his head buried in his arms and a leopard print hoodie pulled up over his hair to hide even more. After their last meeting, Yuuri was starting to wonder if they just worked the boy too hard. It wasn’t fair to take advantage of him just because he was young and probably got paid hardly anything. He was likely in school too. Wasn’t that how these things usually worked?

Now at the front of the line, Yuuri quickly ordered his tea and stood impatiently by the counter waiting for it to be made, continually glancing over his shoulder at Yuri. He snatched his tea from the barista without even thanking him and tried not to seem like he was hurrying as he approached the table. When he sat down, Yuri didn’t react.

“Ah, Yuri?” Yuuri lowered his head to try to see Yuri’s face, but the hood and bangs kept him hidden. “Are you okay?”

There was a muffled groan of some sort, but no movement.

“Yurio?” he tried again.

Yuuri would swear to it later that it had been an accident. Mari had been teasing him all week with it, and somehow Phichit had gotten wind as well. But it certainly worked to get Yuri’s attention.

He jerked upright with a glare, only further emphasized by the dark circles under his eyes. “What the hell? What the hell did you call me?”

Yuuri held up his hands placatingly, even though Yuri sounded far too tired to work up any real anger. “Sorry, just… a nickname, I guess.”

“Well, I hate it,” Yuri stated bluntly. “Don’t call me that.”

Nodding, Yuuri lowered his hands and took a long sip of his tea. “Sure. So what are we here for?”

Yuri sighed and slumped down again, although this time he kept his face visible, muttering toward the wall. “I don’t fucking know. They just said they wanted a progress report, whatever that means.”

“Oh.” Yuuri popped the lid off of his cup and swirled the contents. “Well, I’m working on their requests, but that equipment isn’t easy to access, not without revealing Victor to the rest of the lab, which I’m not supposed to do.” He glanced up at Yuri. “I mean, I’ll do it! It’ll just… It will take a little time, that’s all. I do want him out of there,” Yuuri muttered, more to himself than Yuri. “He doesn’t deserve to be caged up like that.” He sighed deeply and took another swig of his rapidly cooling tea.

“Hey, Katsuki.”

Yuuri looked up, but Yuri was still slumped over, staring at the wall. “Yes?”

“Is he really, you know, human?” Yuri fidgeted a little but kept glaring at the wall.

“Well, he’s not _human_ , but he’s… he’s a person. He’s really smart, and he’s learning to talk, and all he wants to do is ask questions.” Yuuri began smiling. “I swear, all I hear around the lab the last couple days is ‘what? what? what?’ Now that he’s started talking, he doesn’t want to stop.” Yuuri found himself blushing suddenly, and he buried his face in his cup, taking another gulp of tea.

“Huh.” Finally, Yuuri sat up. “Hey, give me your number.”

Yuuri frowned. “But you…”

“Lilia has it, not me. Give me your number.”

“O-okay.” Yuuri obediently recited his phone number, watching as Yuri made a new contact in his phone and read it back to make sure he got it right. He tried not to question why he was giving this angry teenager his cell phone number.

“Cool. I guess I’ll see you later then.” Yuri shoved his phone back in his pocket, stood up, and started heading for the door without any further comment.

“Um, bye!” Yuuri called out as he stomped toward the door. Yuri didn’t turn back and didn’t respond. The door closed with an angry jingle of bells behind him.

Yuuri sat for a few minutes longer, finishing his tea and trying to understand what had just happened. It wasn’t like he knew Yuri that well after their total of three coffee shop meetings, but this still felt strange. It didn’t help that Yuri looked more tired every time they met.

But there wasn’t anything Yuuri could do about it now. Yuri might have his number, but the reverse wasn’t true, and Yuuri had no way to contact him even if he had some way to help. It was probably just hard classes or something. If Yuri really wanted something, he could call now.

Yuuri tossed his cup and stayed contemplative on the bus ride home, absently liking Phichit’s hamster photos and double-checking the time for his family call this weekend with Mari.

Nothing he could do about it, and Yuuri just needed to remember that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life continues to be pure chaos. Reading is such an escape for me right now, when everything is uncertain and stressful, and I'm so grateful to be part of such a positive community like the YoI fandom. If this fic happens to be an escape for you, know that I have every intention of being here every Monday! Thank you all for being so supportive and kind in your comments. Find me on Twitter @lexical_dreamer


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Yuuri collects biological samples from Victor, including blood and muscle samples. Minor injuries and treatment.

_“One last thing, Dr. Katsuki. If you ever change your mind, or feel the situation is becoming too dangerous, do not hesitate to let me know. We won’t hold anything against you.”_

_“I… Dangerous?”_

_“Selma Corp is already holding sentient creatures captive. We don’t know what they might be capable of.”_

~*~

Wednesday and Thursday were filled with chatty Victor and report writing. Yuuri was patiently drawing up all the potential tests he could do with a minimal amount of specimens required before he took any samples from Victor. He didn’t want to have to do any of this more than he had to, so he planned carefully to get the most amount of tests and data (and time spent), with the least amount of samples. And hopefully the least amount of pain for Victor.

On Friday when Yuuri entered the lab, it was very quiet. Victor wasn’t out of the small cave he had made with rocks earlier in the week, so Yuuri let him be and sat down at his desk with a sigh. Yuuri was in a quiet mood himself today. He knew he needed to take samples, and he didn’t want to. He didn’t want to put Victor through any kind of pain, especially for invasive tests that didn’t have his interests at heart. At least Yuuri was fairly certain it was safe to give him mild painkillers if he ended up needing them. With every new result that came in on Victor, Yuuri was surprised again at how human his biology was turning out to be, other than the tail, of course, and a few extras like gills and mucus production.

There was a gnawing pit in his belly the entire time. He needed to figure out a way to get proof, something that wouldn’t take months and didn’t use equipment he didn’t have access to. He needed to figure this out before Ms. Saunders started demanding tests that Yuuri couldn’t make himself do. And he knew if he wouldn’t do them, Ms. Saunders would just find someone else who would.

Victor interrupted his spiraling thoughts as he surfaced above him in the tank. “Good mo’ning, Yuuri!”

Yuuri swiveled his chair around and smiled up at him. “Good morning, Victor. How are you feeling today?”

Victor frowned in concentration for a minute, then responded, “Good! How… feeeling, Yuuri?”

“I… I’m good too, Victor. I’m good.” And Yuuri was determined to make that true.

Victor remained at the surface of the tank, even as Yuuri turned back to his desk, triple-checking the list of tests he had put together to do in the coming week and all the samples that he would need for them. Victor’s voice in the background, quietly babbling away as he practiced his words was soothing. Occasionally he would raise his voice in a “Whaat?” and Yuuri would turn to see what Victor was pointing at and give him another new word to practice. But overall, it was a quiet morning that Yuuri would have enjoyed if he could just ignore what he was doing.

Eventually, he couldn’t put off the inevitable anymore. He sighed deeply as he looked down at his list. He got up and gathered a tray full of sterile vials and containers, as well as syringes and scalpels and supplies for treating the small wounds he would have to inflict. He added a fresh jar of slime as well. He put the tray on the gurney and rolled it up onto the lift. Victor met him at the top, looking curiously at the supplies Yuuri had gathered. He frowned when he saw the syringes and scalpels, looking to Yuuri for reassurance.

“I’m sorry, Victor. I…” Yuuri swallowed hard, forcing himself to meet Victor’s eyes. “I’ll be careful, and I won’t take any longer than I have to.” Yuuri attempted a smile, but he was sure it failed as Victor wilted and his eyes went wide and hurt. “I…” Yuuri looked away and sighed, no longer knowing what he could say to try to reassure Victor. “I just want you to stay safe,” he muttered, moving the tray to the side to make room for Victor on the gurney.

Yuuri sucked in a deep breath and pushed all his worry down to the pit of his stomach. He patted the gurney. “Will you get out of the tank so I can check you over and collect a few samples, Victor?”

Victor whined a sad “Yuuuri…” but he pushed himself up on the edge of the tank, one hand reaching out to steady himself on the gurney. Victor had gotten more practiced at this maneuver by now, and he only needed a little bit of help keeping stable as he slipped over the edge and onto the gurney. He planted his hands behind him, even though it was somewhat difficult for him to stay sitting upright on the gurney because of how slippery the mucus made it. “Yuuri?”

Yuuri fought to his urge to forget this whole thing and just tell Victor to get back in the tank. He _hated_ this. He hated this _so much_. But he couldn’t… He took a brief moment to close his eyes and breathe deeply, shoving all those helpless feelings into a dark corner to examine later. Turning back to Victor, he grabbed the rubber strap and alcohol swab from the tray, holding it up for Victor to see. “I need to draw blood again, just like last time. It wasn’t so bad then, right?”

Victor didn’t respond, but he held out his arm for Yuuri to strap and swab. It went much the same as before, but this time Yuuri drew multiple vials of blood, gently sealing each one and placing them back on the tray. After he got Victor to hold a bit of gauze in place, he neatly labeled each sample and put them in a container to stash in the fridge once he got back down to the floor. Victor was holding the gauze out to him when he turned back around without actually looking at him, and Yuuri accepted it silently, handing the jar of slime to him in exchange. Victor quickly smeared a little bit in the crease of his elbow and set it aside.

Yuuri slipped around the gurney to take a quick peek at Victor’s back, but everything was looking fine. The remaining red spots and patches had shrunk to coin-sized pink scars. The worst of the infections had definitely been on Victor’s front. Still, Yuuri scooped out a handful of slime and swiped it over Victor’s back just in case. Victor seemed to enjoy the artificial mucus, applying it daily from what Yuuri could tell, like some kind of beauty treatment. But it would be hard for him to reach most of his back, however flexible he was. Yuuri kept his touch light as he did so, but he could still feel Victor shiver.

Returning to his tray, Yuuri wiped his hands clean on a towel and set up his remaining sample containers. The first one was easy, anyway. Slowly, so he wouldn’t startle Victor since he wasn’t looking at Yuuri, he reached out and pulled a clump of hair away from Victor’s shoulder. Water dripped down Yuuri’s wrist as he held it over an open container and then snipped an inch of hair off, letting it fall into the container. Yuuri laid the scissors back on the tray and sealed the sample, labeling it clearly.

The next samples were more difficult. He straightened his sample containers again, even though they were fine, and finally turned back to Victor. “It might be easier if you were laying down,” he said quietly, gesturing to be sure that Victor understood. But Victor didn’t respond, didn’t even twitch at Yuuri’s voice, so Yuuri sighed and set his next few sample containers on the gurney next to Victor’s tail.

First was a scale. They were tiny, fragile, tissue-thin things that were more like glittery confetti than anything else. Under the new, brighter lights, and with the clean, healthier tank water, they shimmered a pale, icy blue, with traces of darker blue around his pectoral and caudal fins. He carefully scraped a small cluster of them off Victor’s tail and let them fall into a container already filled with salt-solution. The skin didn’t even break.

That was impossible for the next one. He went for the still healing gash this time. It was healing well, stitches completely dissolved. No more growths had sprouted out of it, and it seemed like Yuuri had gotten all of the necrotic flesh the first time around, which was a relief. But at the deepest part of the cut, right in the center, it still gaped open a little bit, pink muscle peeking out. Yuuri leaned in and peered at the wound closely without touching it yet. It was healthy. The scar tissue was minimal. The entire area was awash with what was probably lymph fluid as well as mucus, to encourage healing and prevent infection. With a deep inhale to brace himself, Yuuri maneuvered the scalpel into the edge of the wound and sliced off a thin strip of muscle.

Victor did make a sound this time, a tiny whimper of noise, but Yuuri stifled his instincts and ignored his clenching stomach. He had to get this done. Stopping now would only prolong things.

_He needed a solution; he needed a better solution than this. Oh god…_

And so it continued. Tiny scrapes and cuts. Little bits of flesh and blood until all of Yuuri’s containers had tiny pieces of Victor floating in them, waiting to be cut up further and studied.

With a shaky breath, Yuuri laid his scalpel down on the tray and hurriedly wiped the blood off his hands, pink where it was mixed with water, but darker when he stained the towel with it. He sealed each container with care, forcing his hands to be steady even though they wanted to shake, even though he could feel the shivers in his skin and in the back of his head, because the last thing he wanted was to _spill_ one and have to take even more samples. He labeled just as carefully, biting down so hard on his lip that he thought he could taste blood, but then he wasn’t sure if it was his own or just the smell of Victor’s in the air.

Behind him, Victor remained still and quiet. He hadn’t laid down during the entire ordeal and he hadn’t let go of the sides of the gurney. He hadn’t said anything either, the only sounds to pass his lips the quiet whimpers that he couldn’t seem to stifle. But as Yuuri continued to painstakingly print labels for each container, he heard a very quiet murmur behind him.

“Tank?”

Yuuri looked over his shoulder, but Victor still stared in the opposite direction. If it weren’t for the twinge in his chest, Yuuri would have thought he had been hearing things. “Yes, Victor. You can go back in the tank.”

Victor scooted himself to the end of the gurney and heaved himself over the side of the tank without his usual grace. He slid into the water with barely a splash and disappeared from sight. There would be no afternoon chatting today, Yuuri thought.

He continued to methodically write his labels.

As he stored his samples in neat rows in the mini-fridge, he eyed the apple that sat on his desk with regret. Maybe another day.

~*~

Lunch in the cafeteria was something of a blur to Yuuri. He knew that Minami and, surprisingly, JJ joined him. He knew that he made conversation. Nobody gave him weird looks or asked him concerned questions. But he couldn’t remember what they had talked about once he got back to the lab or what he had eaten. Victor was still nowhere in sight. Yuuri was tempted to do a walk around the tank, both because he hadn’t done his daily observation log yet and because he didn’t really feel like going up to the main lab to do more testing, but he decided it was better to give Victor privacy for now. Still, he did take care of the small tanks and gather up some more fish in a bucket to dump into the main tank, a new species this time. Victor didn’t surface when he poured the new additions in, but then Yuuri hadn’t really expected him to. Reluctantly, Yuuri gathered one of his new samples and his notebook and headed upstairs.

The afternoon passed just as slowly as lunch did, and in much the same distracted haze. Yuuri managed to snag a workstation at the edge of the room and worked alone for a while, trying to bury himself in the details to drown out the ugly voices in his head. He couldn’t separate the truth and the lies right now, not after hurting Victor like he had.

Eventually JJ claimed to the workstation next to Yuuri’s and he chatted on about… something… for a while. But after a few minutes, or longer, Yuuri wasn’t sure, JJ trailed off and focused more on his work. Yuuri felt a mild worry that he had offended JJ by ignoring him, but it was overwhelmed by the parts of him that couldn’t bear to interact, not right now, not while his head was full like this.

When Yuuri had done everything he could with his sample, he sent all his results to his drive and wiped the workstation backup, as usual. When he reluctantly checked the time, he was relieved to see that it was almost four o’clock. He could keep himself busy in the lab with his latest results for an hour until he could leave. At least it was the weekend. Even with Victor having a supply of fresh fish for now, Yuuri would still have to check in the next two days. The tank supply wasn’t anywhere near sustainable yet. But maybe by Monday…

With a stretch that popped his spine, Yuuri stood up from his chair and gathered his stuff to take back downstairs. He paused beside JJ, who was muttering to himself as he poked at a petri dish full of something green and sticky-looking. “JJ, I…” He trailed off awkwardly as JJ straightened up with his usual carefree grin. “I apologize if I, er, offended you this afternoon. I’m a bit out of sorts today.” Yuuri could feel the blush starting, but steadfastly ignored it.

JJ clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Yuuri! We all have those days, and I wasn’t offended. And hey, if you ever need a friendly ear…” JJ grinned and shrugged, before turning back to his petri dish.

Yuuri didn’t know how to respond to that offer, but JJ didn’t seem to need a response, so Yuuri murmured a quiet goodbye and headed for the elevator, managing to avoid anyone else on the way.

As expected, Victor was still nowhere in sight when Yuuri arrived in the lab, and he didn’t come out of hiding while Yuuri worked at his computer. After an hour, he saved his notes, shut everything down, and packed up his bag to take home. He stared at the tank for a long minute, but didn’t dare try to go looking for Victor. Instead he sighed and dimmed the lights as he left for the day, leaving one lonely apple behind at his desk.

~*~

Yuuri was dozing on the couch with the TV on in the background when his phone started ringing. He rubbed his eyes and began searching for his phone. He had been texting Phichit, but apparently during a pause in the conversation, he had drifted off and dropped his phone. He snagged it off the floor and answered it without paying attention to the number.

“Hello?” Still dazed, he glanced toward the kitchen to read the time off the microwave. 11:34.

“Katsuki?”

“Yes,” Yuuri answered slowly, pulling his phone away from his ear to check the number. It was no one listed in his contacts, and the area code wasn’t local. When he put the phone back to his ear, someone was talking.

“…listening to me?”

“I… Sorry, what? Who is this?” Yuuri rubbed his face and lurched upright on the couch. “I was asleep, sorry.”

“It’s Yuri Plisetsky, who do you fucking think? Look, have you given updates to anyone other than me at NuHuman?”

“I… no.” Yuuri shook his head, unsure what Yuri was talking about. “You’re my contact, right? Was I supposed—”

“Good. I need to meet you tomorrow, but not at that fucking coffee shop. Is there somewhere else we can meet?” Yuri railroaded right through the conversation, not seeming concerned by Yuuri’s confusion.

“Yuri, what’s going—”

“Look, just pick a place to meet and fucking text me, okay? I have to go, but _text me_. Or I’ll hunt you down or some shit. And don’t talk to anyone at NuHuman.”

“Yuri? What are you talking about?” Yuuri waited fruitlessly for an answer before pulling the phone away and realizing that Yuri had already hung up. What in the world was that about?

Yuuri stared at his phone for a couple minutes, still trying to wake up and process what had just happened. He had a notification for a text message and he tapped it automatically. It was from Phichit, one he had missed after he had fallen asleep.

 **Phichit:** btw any news on the cutie ;P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just worked for seven days straight and I'm just so grateful to have a day off. I also forgot what day of the week it is. 😔 As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting on this fic. Those emails are bringing me some much needed happiness these days.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: depression and sad feels, mentions of human experimentation.

The next morning, Yuuri laid in bed staring at the ceiling for a while before he gathered the energy to move. Too much was happening. Too much was _changing_. And nothing seemed to have a solution. Eventually he picked up his phone and scrolled through his notifications before dropping it back down. He didn’t want to deal with any of it. With the video call to his parents tonight. With Phichit’s hamster photos and questions and gentle concern. With Yuri’s demands for a meeting. With Victor hiding behind his rocks in his cage of a tank. He didn’t want to deal with it today.

So Yuuri pulled the blankets over his head and ignored it.

It worked for a little while.

Eventually his bladder made demands that he could no longer ignore, and Yuuri reluctantly left his cocoon. A few minutes later, bladder relieved and teeth brushed, because he couldn’t stand his own morning breath, Yuuri slumped back down on the bed, on top of the covers, and sighed. He had to… do something. Drag himself to the lab to check on Victor. Respond to the new texts from Phichit. Confirm the phone call with Mari. Maybe set up a meeting with Yuri, though he still wasn’t sure why. But instead of doing any of that, he stared at the phone laying on his pillow and… didn’t.

It took another 30 minutes to work up the motivation, but he did grab his phone eventually. Mari was the easiest, so she was first.

 **Yuuri:** 8 P.M. my time is fine. Looking forward to talking to all of you this evening.

Then he scrolled through Phichit’s latest string of chatty texts, responding briefly, and dutifully opened Instagram to like his latest pictures. There were quite a few, but it _was_ kind of relaxing, scrolling through photos of fat and happy hamsters.

Yuri hadn’t contacted him again after the strange phone call last night, but he had told Yuuri to text him a meeting place. Yuuri wasn’t sure what to do about it. It was suspicious, to say the least, the frantic call, the secret meeting. The insistence that he not talk to anyone else at NuHuman. He couldn’t figure out why Yuri Plisetsky, tired intern who didn’t seem to care about his job, would start acting like this, out of the blue. But at the same time, how could Yuuri ignore him when he had been so genuinely worried about something?

In the end, Yuuri couldn’t justify ignoring him, and he sent a brief text to the number that had called last night, suggesting a nearby diner and adding: _3?_

There couldn’t be any harm in hearing Yuri out, at any rate.

That left only one more thing on his list.

Yuuri took his time getting ready. He took a leisurely hot shower, picked out clothes with more care than usual. He fixed breakfast instead of grabbing a protein bar on his way out the door like most mornings. Eventually, he ran out of delaying tactics and had to leave.

The bus ride to the office felt shorter than usual. Nerves curled in his gut like tiny plants, trying to push their way out to the sunlight. He hugged his bag to his stomach as if trying to hold them inside.

The security guard on duty nodded politely to him when he came in, used to Yuuri stopping in on the weekends by now. Minutes later he was down in his lab, but he hesitated before turning up the lights. Once he did that Victor would know that he was here.

He took a deep breath and did it anyway, determinedly not looking at the main tank and instead dropping his stuff at the desk and going to check on the small tanks. He gathered more fish in his bucket, but ignored the plants for now. The ones in the tank still seemed to be doing well, and he didn’t want to add more unless the fish population started killing them off.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs up to the catwalk and allowed himself to look at the tank. There were a couple of fish swimming lazily in view, but no sign of Victor. He heaved in a big breath and clopped up the metal staircase.

At the top, he dumped the fish into the tank without fanfare, watching as they shot out in all directions after a brief moment of disorientation. Still no sign of Victor, but then Yuuri wasn’t expecting that anymore.

Back at his desk, he hesitated once more. He had skipped the daily observation yesterday, and he hated to do it two days in a row. This was such an important stage of building a sustainable habitat. If one element got out of control, it could get very hairy very quickly. And he didn’t think Ms. Saunders would approve a second draining of the tank if something went direly wrong. He couldn’t risk it, even if it meant violating what little privacy Victor had.

He grabbed his clipboard and a pen and started circling the tank slowly, making his usual notes. He kept note of the fish and the plants and any changes that Victor had made to the tank since the last time. He checked the filter and the water read-outs. Everything was still within normal ranges. He slowed as he came toward the back corner where Victor had built his little cave, but he still moved on, pausing to take notes even when he just wanted to rush around the corner and get out of sight.

Victor had moved more of the rocks over, rearranging and stacking them, until there appeared to be not just one cave, but also a variety of small crevices and cracks. A fish darted out from one and into another, and Yuuri smiled. Victor had made places for the fish to hide as well, something that was still lacking in the tank, since Yuuri was focusing on Victor’s needs primarily. It made sense. They had probably tried to swarm his cave when Victor wasn’t in it, so he gave them their own place instead. Plus, it probably made finding dinner pretty easy.

Without realizing it, he had reached out to touch the tank glass, and he yanked his hand away as soon as he saw what he had done. He scribbled notes frantically on his paper, only half sure of what he even wrote, and started to walk away.

The tapping on the glass startled him.

Victor was there when Yuuri turned back around. His long hair was drifting around his face, and he impatiently shoved it out of his way to stare at Yuuri. Although Victor was usually very expressive, Yuuri couldn’t read him today. His mouth was flat, and his eyes still. Hesitantly, Yuuri raised a hand in a meager wave. “Hello Victor.”

Victor shot to the surface of the tank, and Yuuri took three big steps backward to keep him in view. At the top, Victor leaned over the edge, sending a shower of water to the floor at Yuuri’s feet. He paused there for a long minute, while Yuuri struggled to breath. Was he angry? Was he still hurting from yesterday?

“Yuuri,” he said finally, more quietly than normal. “Aappal?”

Yuuri stood in shocked silence for a moment, staring up at the magical creature hovering above him. Then he cleared his throat roughly and replied. “Yeah, Victor. I brought an apple. I’ll show you.”

~*~

It wasn’t until Yuuri’s phone buzzed in his pocket that he realized how much time had passed. Yuuri had brought the apple up to the catwalk and let Victor tear it apart, literally, Victor digging his claws in and pulling out pieces until he got to the core and cooed over the seeds that he discovered. They shared the shredded bits of apple between them.

It wasn’t all back to normal. There were strange pauses in the conversation now and then that hadn’t been there two days ago. But it was better. Victor had forgiven him, and Yuuri was beyond grateful.

He was also determined to never do anything like it again. He didn’t know how he would put off Ms. Saunders. He didn’t know how he could get the test results that NuHuman wanted without exposing Victor to the whole lab. But he was determined to figure it out, because Yuuri would never hurt Victor again, and he would never let anyone else do it either, not if there was anything that he could do to stop it.

When his phone buzzed, he startled and Victor laughed at his surprise, while Yuuri pulled it out of his pocket. It was a response from Yuri and it simply said: _yes_. Checking the time showed that it was already, somehow, 1:45, and Yuuri needed to leave soon if he was going to be able to take the bus to the diner and not have to shell out for a taxi.

Victor poked at Yuuri’s cheek, as was becoming his habit. “Yuuri?”

Yuuri pocketed his phone and smiled up at Victor. “I have to go meet with someone. But I’ll be back tomorrow with some more fruit, okay?”

Victor pouted and whined, but he waved and called a goodbye as Yuuri left, and Yuuri’s heart lifted in his chest. Something wasn’t right in the world when Victor was unhappy. Seeing him cheerful and talkative again settled something inside Yuuri.

~*~

The bus ride was uneventful and Yuuri spent most of it playing a mindless game on his phone, one ear listening for his stop to be called. He arrived 15 minutes early, and took a moment outside to take some deep breaths and prepare himself. He still wasn’t sure what Yuri was up to or if he should trust him, but he couldn’t just ignore him either.

When Yuuri got the nerve up to push open the door, Yuri wasn’t there yet. He made his way to a booth toward the back and ended up ordering a burger when a bored waitress came by for his order, because he realized he hadn’t had any lunch (unless you counted a few bites of apple) and he was starving. Yuri arrived before his food did.

He looked paler than usual, the dark circles under his eyes even more prominent than they had been a couple of days ago. He shoved into the diner and quickly scanned for Yuuri, nodding as soon as their gazes met. Then he held the door open for the man behind him.

Yuuri stiffened in his seat, eyeing the newcomer warily. Yuri hadn’t mentioned bringing anyone else, and the other man looked intimidatingly serious. He was only a little taller than Yuri, but he had dark hair in an undercut, a solemn expression, and dark eyes that swept the room with intention. They walked toward Yuuri’s booth together.

“Katsuki,” Yuri greeted as he slid all the way into the booth to make room for the other man. His voice sounded gravelly with exhaustion.

“Ah, hello Yuri,” Yuuri responded, his eyes flickering between the two of them. “Is… everything okay?”

“Fuck, no.” Yuri sighed and slumped sideways abruptly, leaning on his friend’s shoulder. “You haven’t talked to anyone, right?”

Yuuri shook his head silently.

“This is Otabek Altin, by the way. He works for NuHuman, too, but he’s not a shithead like the rest of them.”

Yuuri’s eyes widened. “Um…”

“They aren’t all shitheads, Yura,” Otabek said calmly. Then he nodded at Yuuri. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Katsuki. I understand you’ve been taking care of… Victor.”

“Yes…” Yuuri said hesitantly. “Yuri, I… I don’t understand what’s going on. Can you please explain instead of continuing to be cryptic?”

Before Yuri could start, though, the waitress came over with Yuuri’s food. “Do you two wanna order something?”

Yuri scowled, but Otabek placed an order for both of them without hesitation. Yuri interrupted only to add a chocolate milkshake to the list. The waitress murmured something inaudible and left as silently as she had arrived.

The silence hung there for a minute, the interruption having derailed their conversation. Finally, Yuri sighed again and began. “I found out some shit the other day, and… it has to do with your merman. Victor.”

Yuuri slumped back in his seat, ignoring the food that he had been so hungry for just minutes ago. “What… what kind of information?”

“ _Fuck_ ,” Yuri said sharply. He shook his head and glanced at Otabek. “Can you…”

Otabek looked down at Yuri, and Yuuri was surprised to see his gaze soften a bit. Then he looked up, face back to its blank mask. “I am a geneticist working for NuHuman, and I recently gained access to some old project files that I probably wasn’t intended to see. It contained information on something called Project Undine. The original researchers were looking for particular genetic markers that indicated the possibility of ocean-dwelling ancestral—”

“They were looking for fish people,” Yuri interrupted, waving his hand impatiently.

“And they found them, obviously,” Yuuri continued.

Otabek tilted his head slightly. “Not exactly. What they found was… your Victor. Who was a human boy of about six at the time. There were no details about his identity in the file, not even his name, but…”

Otabek continued talking, but Yuuri could no longer hear him. Everything faded to a static hum as Yuuri’s brain glitched. Victor was… human? Or had been? That wasn’t possible, that shouldn’t _be_ possible. He had a fish tail and gills and… But he also had lungs and vocal chords and so many things that seemed improbable, but Yuuri had dismissed them and… How could something like this have _happened_?

“Dr. Katsuki?”

Yuuri twitched and found that Yuri and Otabek were both staring at him in concern, although Yuri’s had a frustrated edge to it. “I’m sorry,” he said automatically. “I… What were you saying?”

Yuri tched. “I think you got the important part. NuHuman fucking experimented on a little kid and turned him into a fish person. All the shitty details are unimportant.”

“Yura…” Otabek chided quietly, but he didn’t try to continue his explanation.

“Wait, but Selma Corp… They found Victor in the Pacific,” Yuuri said, sitting up straighter and gripping the edge of the table. “I’ve seen the pictures; there’s even a short video. How could NuHuman—”

Otabek bowed his head briefly. “According to the files, about a year ago, NuHuman decided to test Victor’s viability in an uncontrolled environment. Somehow, about three weeks into the… test, Victor managed to remove the tracking device. NuHuman assumed he had died until they started hearing rumors about Selma Corp having acquired a new specimen. After that they started investigating and decided that they needed an insider to get more information and attempt to retrieve their research specimen.”

“…research specimen,” Yuuri repeated dully. It wasn’t like it was an unfamiliar word. All of the creatures at Selma Corp were referred to as specimens, but Yuuri had stopped thinking of Victor like that weeks ago. Victor had never been a specimen to Yuuri. From day one, he had been a person. And now, it turned out that he had been _human_ too. He hadn’t just been in captivity for a few months. He had been experimented on as a _child_. And then he had been thrown from his tank into a big, wide, dangerous ocean unlike anything he had ever experienced on the whim of some idiotic researcher. It was amazing that he had survived. And hadn’t Yuuri been thinking that from day one. Victor never failed to surprise Yuuri with just how much he wanted to survive.

“So NuHuman wants him back. That’s why they contacted me. Not because they want to help Victor, but because they made him in the first place.” Yuuri laughed a little, but it was an ugly choked sound. “I assume you have proof?” Not that he needed it, not really. It was all too believable in hindsight. Everything added up.

“Not with us, unfortunately,” Otabek said, still taking the lead. “But I can get it to you, if you need verification of our story.”

Yuuri just shook his head slowly. “No, I… No.”

“But we’re going to fix this.”

Yuuri managed to look up at Yuri’s determined words. “What?”

The waitress appeared again before anyone could answer. She plopped plates and drinks down in front of Yuri and Otabek efficiently, then eyed Yuuri’s untouched food. “Everything okay?”

“Oh, um. Yes. Just… not as hungry as I thought,” he settled on. It was mostly true, anyway. His appetite had disappeared.

She nodded with a faint twist of her mouth, then walked away.

Yuri was already sucking back his chocolate milkshake when Yuuri turned back to the table. Otabek was very neatly eating an omelet.

“What did you mean by ‘fixing it’?” Yuuri asked. “How could there possibly be a way to fix this?” Yuuri could feel a heated rage starting to rise in his chest, even as tears itched at the corners of his eyes. “Victor has had his entire _life_ stolen from him. There’s no way to _fix_ that.”

Yuri pulled back from his milkshake, looking slightly abashed, but still determined. “Maybe not _that_ , but Otabek can fix it. He said so.” And he looked up at Otabek like the man was capable of doing anything, if only Yuri believed in him hard enough, an unexpectedly soft and vulnerable side to the otherwise brash teenager.

Otabek frowned slightly and eyed Yuri briefly. “I can’t make any guarantees, and you know that, Yuri.” He turned to face Yuuri directly. “But the changes in Victor weren’t made surgically; they were genetically triggered. It _might_ be possible to reverse them. If I can get all the necessary information from the old files and have access to the right supplies. And to Victor, of course.”

Yuuri rubbed at his face, taking a moment to try to calm his racing heart and gather his composure again. He didn’t know how this Otabek could stay so calm in the face of everything that they were discussing. Even Yuri was upset, even if he was trying very hard to hide it behind his anger. No wonder he had been looking so awful at their last meeting, if he had been carrying all of this information. Finally, Yuuri looked back up, straightening his glasses. “So, it’s possible that Victor can be… human again. Can maybe have a life outside of the lab.” Yuuri chuckled wetly. “I had been hoping that maybe, with NuHuman’s help, he would be able to go back home, but he doesn’t have a home does he? He… never had a chance to have a home. You said NuHuman didn’t have any information on who he was in the records?”

“No,” Otabek confirmed.

“Then we can’t even find his family or… anything. He’s… alone.” _Just like me_ , a tiny voice in Yuuri’s head whispered, even though Yuuri knew it was a lie. Even if he was a little lonely here, so far from his family and friends, he was never alone. Victor was truly alone.

Except he had Yuuri, didn’t he? And even if he didn’t know them, it seemed like maybe he had Yuri and Otabek as well. Maybe he didn’t have to be alone in that tank anymore.

Yuuri sniffed one more time and pushed back his shoulders, straightening his spine. “So how do we do this?”

Yuri was shoving fries in his mouth and looked startled when Yuuri looked straight at him. He chewed quickly and swallowed. “Hey, I’m just the fucking intern, remember? How am I supposed to know? I just… It’s not fucking right, what they did.”

Otabek nodded. “So we need to make a plan, then.”

“We do,” Yuuri agreed, then he picked up his burger and took a massive bite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohoho! Secrets are finally coming to light! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thank you as always to everyone for kudos and comments and subscribes! They are bright little lights in my days. More thanks to The Mad Hatters for keeping me sane when everything is going crazy. I love you all. 💖😘


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Nothing except _feels_.
> 
> _Oh._

Yuuri’s phone call that night with his parents went well. Mari, he thought, was a bit surprised to see him looking so happy, but the determination and conviction of his meeting with Yuri and Otabek was still flowing through him. This was the right thing to do, and even if it was going to be hard, and maybe dangerous, they were going to go through with it.

And so he listened to the latest antics of the triplets and laughed along with his family. He greeted his old ballet instructor Minako-sensei cheerfully when she dropped by for a few minutes. When his parents finally left and it was just him and Mari on the call, Mari smiled at him gently. “You look better than I expected. Your texts seemed…” She wrinkled her nose. “Stiff.”

Yuuri scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. His hair was getting too long. “Sorry, Mari-neesan. I just… It was hard getting used to the new job, I guess.”

She nodded and hummed. “And now? Phichit mentioned something about—”

“Oh my god, do you guys always talk about me behind my back?” Yuuri knew he was blushing bright red and he hid his face in his hands. “There’s no cutie, I swear!”

Mari just laughed. “If you say so. But that blush is pretty strong for there not being a cutie.”

Yuuri shook his head, hands still covering his face. “There’s not. I barely even _see_ anyone other than…” _Victor. Other than Victor._

Fuck.

He had nearly forgotten that he was still on the call when Mari said quietly, “Oh Yuuri.”

He looked up at her. “Oh,” he said. “I…” He didn’t have words.

“It’s okay, Yuuri,” she said calmly.

“But I don’t know if it is,” he whispered. “I… I can’t. We can’t.”

“Then you’ll figure it out. Do you want to talk about it?”

He shook his head. “I can’t. I really can’t.”

She nodded without judgment. “Okay. If you ever want to, though, you know where to find me.”

Yuuri chewed on his lip for a minute. “Okay, neesan. I… I think I need to go now.”

“Love you, little brother,” she said.

“Love you, too,” he replied and carefully quit the call.

He sat there for a while, on his couch with his laptop still sitting in his lap, radiating heat against his legs. And he thought. He thought about Victor’s happy greetings in the mornings and his babbling practice throughout the day. He thought about the way he poked Yuuri’s cheek when he thought Yuuri was looking too unhappy and the way he splashed water at him when he got excited. He thought about his long hair and his blue eyes that shimmered like oceans when he was happy. He thought about the way that Victor said his name, “Yuuri,” like it was the best word he could think of, the way that it was the first word that Victor had ever learned how to say.

He thought of all of these things, and he stared down at his computer, the screen long having gone dark, and he wondered how he could have done something so stupid.

He had fallen in love with a merman.

~*~

Yuuri couldn’t afford to sit there all night thinking, even if he’d wanted to. Those thoughts were too confusing anyway. Dwelling on them would only distract him from the important things right now. They had a plan, and Yuuri had his part to do. If he wasn’t going to be able to sleep right now, he might as well get started.

 **Yuuri:** hey are you up? i need a favor. a big one.

Yuuri had to wait only a minute for a response.

 **Phichit:** u kno ill do anything for you babe ( *¯ ³¯*)♡ whats up?

 **Yuuri:** are you still in contact with ciao ciao?

 **Phichit:** …..why?

 **Yuuri:** someone i know needs help. with things.

 **Phichit:** okay. but im gonna need deets

~*~

Sunday had a frantic feeling to it, that frustrating restlessness when things are happening but the only thing to be done in the moment is to wait. Phichit had agreed to get a message to Ciao Ciao, which was a relief, even if no guarantee could be made about his response. And Phichit had agreed to see what he could do about hacking Selma Corp and NuHuman Research Group when the time came. But not yet; they couldn’t risk tipping anyone off yet.

He and Phichit had been an odd pair in university. Yuuri had been in his senior year of undergrad by the time Phichit had become his roommate, and they had barely talked for the first month. Despite Phichit’s cheerful attitude and ready smile, there had been something about him that Yuuri had been wary of, a secret that lived just beneath his skin. Judging by his popularity on campus, no one else seemed to have Yuuri’s problem, though.

One day Phichit had locked them in their tiny suite until he had gotten the confession out of Yuuri, and then he had laughed long and hard, until Yuuri was starting to get concerned. Then Phichit made a confession of his own: he was a gray-hat hacker with connections to a few underworld types, although he tried to stay out of the truly dark stuff. His stint at university was even financed by one of these “connections,” a man that Phichit referred to only as Ciao Ciao but seemed to view as a father figure.

Maybe it was the way Phichit was so honest when Yuuri actually asked his questions or maybe it was how he sat up with Yuuri all night when he got the phone call about Vicchan. But after a couple more months of dancing around each other, they somehow fell into an easy friendship, and Yuuri found himself being talked into going out to clubs and parties for the first time in his college career. And with Phichit there to keep an eye on him and make sure nothing ever got too uncomfortable or overwhelming, Yuuri even found himself enjoying it.

They rarely saw each other in person, these days. Phichit usually kept his location… discreet and insisted that it wasn’t safe for Yuuri to be seen with him. But it was a rare occasion to go more than a day or two without a text from him.

Now Yuuri paced his tiny living room and clenched his phone in his hand, waiting for a text that would tell him whether Ciao Ciao was willing to help them, whether he could even do what Yuuri was hoping for. Phichit had said that it would probably be a few days before he had any news, but Yuuri couldn’t stop twitching at each notification that popped up on his home screen.

After a couple of hours of watching his phone too closely, Yuuri decided that it was time for a distraction. He hadn’t gone to the office to feed Victor yet, after all. Maybe he could stay there for a couple of hours, keep his mind off all the things that still needed to be done, all the ways this could go wrong. And he’d still have his phone with him on the off chance that Phichit did get back with him earlier than expected.

He fled the apartment in a flurry of coat and scarf and shoes, and spent most of the bus ride trying not to annoy other passengers with his jittery anxiousness. He made a quick detour to a tiny market on the way, and arrived at the office in a state of distracted anticipation. He barely noticed the security guard’s greeting and fumbled his badge three times before he managed to swipe it correctly in the elevator.

Victor splashed to the surface seconds after Yuuri turned up the lights, and Yuuri felt something in his chest loosen when he called out his usual happy greeting.

“Hello, Victor. You seem cheerful today,” he replied in a calmer tone, shedding his layers at his desk and starting to climb the stairs, market bag in hand. Victor responded with a long string of something involving fish, and Yuuri nodded along, a smile already stretching his lips. This was good, seeing Victor like this, happy. As long as Yuuri didn’t let himself get caught up in his thoughts, this would be fine.

He sat down in his usual spot, leaning back against the glass of the tank, and Victor leaned over him, dripping water everywhere and reaching for the bag teasingly. “Patience!” Yuuri scolded, laughing. He set the bag in his lap and spread it open to reveal the contents. “I brought more fruit for you to try,” he said, probably stating the obvious, but Victor didn’t seem to mind.

He leaned further forward, damp strands of hair falling over both of them, and cooed at the variety of fruit in Yuuri’s lap. “Fruit, Yuuri? For Fiictor?”

“Yes, for Victor,” Yuuri said softly. “What do you want to try first?”

Victor immediately pointed and started asking “Whaat fruit?” about each one that Yuuri had brought, though, so they spent some time going over the names before Victor decided he was ready to try them. By the time he was done, they were both sticky with fruit juice, and the catwalk was covered with remnants of peels and seeds and one or two fruits that Victor had decided that he didn’t like. Yuuri tilted his head back against the cool glass and sighed and Victor licked his fingers and continued practicing his new words.

“I’m so sorry about this, Victor.”

Yuuri didn’t realize he’d spoken out loud until Victor gently poked his cheek and said softly, “Yuuri? Sad?”

Yuuri tipped his head back until he could see an upside down Victor looking down at him. “I… A little bit sad, I guess. Worried.” Yuuri tried to give him a smile, but it felt fake and on the verge of cracking open. After a minute, he turned around, shifting until he could face Victor head-on. “I don’t know how much of this you can understand yet, but we’re going to get you out of here, Victor. Somehow.” Yuuri spoke quietly, even knowing there weren’t any cameras in this lab, except the one currently locked in a cabinet for Yuuri to use if he needed to. “There’s people, from the lab that you used to… where you used to be kept.” Yuuri sighed and managed a tiny smile. “Ha. So much of this would have been different if you had known how to speak from the beginning, wouldn’t it? But you’re getting there. You’re so smart, Victor.”

Victor reached forward and Yuuri anticipated another poke, but instead Victor cupped his face in one slick palm. “Yuuri,” he said, and nothing else. He watched Yuuri with large, sad eyes.

“I wish we could really talk,” Yuuri said, and nearly choked on a gasp of a sob. “This is good, this is _so_ good, Victor, but I wish you could really understand me now when I said that I’m sorry and I’m scared and I don’t know if we’re really going to pull this off. What if we get caught? What if we screw this up and just make it worse for you?”

He screwed his eyes shut and swallowed hard, fighting back the tears that wanted to burst out. Now wasn’t the time. Victor crooned quietly and wiped his thumb along Yuuri’s cheek. Yuuri sniffed one last time and forced himself to breathe deeply, before opening his eyes again.

“We’ll get you out of here, Victor. Me and Yuri and Otabek and Phichit and Ciao Ciao and whoever else we need to drag into this. We’ll get you out and get you back to how you’re supposed to be and find you a home, okay?” Yuuri stared into Victor’s blue eyes and watched as some kind of realization seemed to come over the man. Yuuri wanted so much to know what Victor saw in him at that moment.

But all Victor said was “Okay, Yuuri,” and he continued to pet Yuuri’s cheek softly.

Yuuri wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, but it was long enough that Yuuri’s heart settled and his chest loosened and his eyes stopped burning with withheld tears. Victor stayed with him the whole time, murmuring quiet things and keeping him anchored with that one touch. Finally Yuuri gently took Victor’s hand in his own and gave it a squeeze of thanks.

“Alright. I think I should probably head home now.” He attempted a smile again, and this one, though small, felt genuine, and Victor returned it. “But I’ll be back tomorrow, all day.”

Victor nodded, like he understood. “Tomorrow,” he repeated, and Yuuri’s smile widened. They would get there.

They were both quiet as Yuuri got ready to leave, wiping the slime of his face and cleaning up the remains of their fruit feast. With a sharp gasp, Yuuri realized that he had never added anymore fish to the tank or checked on the small tanks, and so he rushed about for a few minutes to make sure everything was still thriving as it ought to while Victor giggled in the background. But once that was settled, Yuuri put on his coat and stared up at Victor for another minute. Victor tipped his head and smiled. “Bye Yuuri. Tomorrow.” He nodded once and then slipped beneath the surface, leaving Yuuri alone in the lab.

Yuuri dimmed the lights and left quietly, his thoughts still for the first time since yesterday afternoon.

~*~

Phichit still hadn’t contacted him by the time Yuuri got home, but he no longer felt so panicked about it. Yuri and Otabek (who had gotten his number yesterday) hadn’t been in touch either, but Yuuri knew that they had a lot to do if they wanted to try to get Victor back to the way he had been as a child, back when he was fully human. Otabek was firm that he wouldn’t even attempt it without much more information than what they currently had, and there was no easy way to get access to everything without making someone suspicious. They would have to move slowly and carefully to unbury all of the secrets of NuHuman.

Meanwhile, Yuuri only had two tasks, or maybe three, if you counted going about his day as if everything was normal and keeping Selma Corp from becoming suspicious. First, he had to try to get in contact with Ciao Ciao, because Yuuri was certain that he could help Victor disappear once he was human again. Phichit was on that, and him helping them with Selma Corp and NuHuman’s records was just a bonus. Hopefully Otabek and Yuri would be able to get everything they needed without having to resort to Phichit’s hacking skills. Second, he had to figure out a way to get Victor out of the NuHuman offices when the time came, and that one might be more of a struggle.

There were only two ways into his lab, as far as Yuuri was aware. The main elevator that he used was the obvious one, but it wasn’t particularly large, and maneuvering the gurney, or whatever else he could rig up as a transport for Victor, would be a tight squeeze. Then there was the service elevator, the one that Mr. Brum and his crew had used when bringing down all of the supplies for the tank. It was plenty large enough for the gurney, but it was locked down whenever there wasn’t a need for it, and Ms. Saunders was the only one who could activate it. Besides, Yuuri wasn’t even sure where it came out. Yuuri had only been in the lab to help direct the incoming shipments. He wasn’t sure where they had been loaded from. Without anyway to activate the elevator and without more information about the service side of the building, it seemed like it wouldn’t be a good option.

But that only left the main—and too small—elevator. Yuuri lay back on the couch, fiddling idly with his phone. No immediate solution was coming to him, but that was okay. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He still had time. Yuri and Otabek would need time. Tomorrow he would be back at work for the whole day, and that would be a good time to scout out some options.

He had enough time to figure this out. He did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, amazing news! The wonderful Kazul9 made art of mer!Vitya for me. *clutches chest* It's so gorgeous and beautiful and lovely and everything and please go give it all the love. 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 <https://twitter.com/Kazul9/status/1249679345460928513>
> 
> That feeling when you love your own writing? That's this chapter for me. *sighs* Anyway, thank you all for reading and for supporting with comments and kudos! Bonus points for any of you out there who respect your grocery store employees and actually maintain a distance. We appreciate you. 💖


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: None for this chapter.
> 
> Plotting and snuggles, the best parts of life.

He didn’t have time to stop at the market that morning and find some more fruit. Yuuri had woken up late, tired and groggy from tossing and turning with crazy what-ifs all night. The first thing he did when his alarm jerked him to wakefulness at 6:45 A.M. was check his phone for messages. He didn’t have any. And then he had accidentally fallen asleep for another half hour. He had barely had time to shower and dress, and his hair was still damp and dripping underneath his shirt collar when he arrived at the office. He needed to get that haircut soon.

He rode the elevator down to the main lab with JJ, who greeted him boisterously and gave him a firm shoulder pat. JJ leaned in close and asked, “Feeling better today?” and Yuuri nodded, too surprised to answer with real words. JJ just laughed and gave him a wave as he exited the elevator. “See you later, Yuuri!” he called, and Yuuri waved back with a faint smile. JJ was a strange man, he thought, but not a bad one. Then he swiped his badge and pressed the button for B2.

Victor greeted Yuuri with his usual cheer, then pouted with a “No fruit, Yuuri?” when he saw that Yuuri wasn’t carrying anything other than his usual bag.

“Sorry, Victor, I overslept today,” Yuuri said, unloading at his desk. “I’ll try to bring some tomorrow, okay?”

“Tomorrow,” he said, a little forlornly, and he sighed dramatically. “Promise?”

Yuuri chuckled. “I promise.” Victor splashed happily in response, but luckily Yuuri was out of range, for now.

The day was nothing out of the ordinary from there. Yuuri settled at his computer and continued inputting data from last week’s tests for a while. Victor chattered happily in the background and Yuuri only vaguely responded to most of it. But when he took the time to notice, he was both impressed at how quickly Victor was picking up new words now and starting to piece them together into sentences, and depressed by what he now knew it meant. Victor had been human when he was a child. He had already _known_ how to speak. Now he was just… relearning an old skill. And it showed in the way it seemed to come so naturally to him.

Yuuri dismissed those thoughts firmly. Feeling sorry for Victor wouldn’t change anything and wouldn’t help them find a solution now. He needed to do his work so that he had reports to send to Ms. Saunders, and he needed to figure a way out of this lab. That was all he could do for now. So he smiled fondly at Victor and responded when Victor coaxed him with long, drawn-out _Yuuuuuris_ and continued working on his database of all things Victor.

As the morning waned, Yuuri started to contemplate his remaining list of samples. He needed to do more testing this afternoon, he knew, even if he hated leaving Victor alone. And he hadn’t had time to pack his lunch either, so he would have to go up to the cafeteria. It was unavoidable.

On the way up to lunch, after apologizing to Victor for leaving him alone, he paid more attention than usual to his surroundings. The elevator, he was pleased to discover, didn’t have any cameras in it, or at least none that he could see and Yuuri was not, admittedly, an expert. But the ground floor lobby had more than enough to make up for it. Round white cameras winked at him from every corner and angle. Now that he was aware of them, Yuuri found it hard to act normal, knowing his every move was being watched. Logically, he knew that he wasn’t actually being watched every minute. There was probably some bored security guard somewhere in the building staring at a dozen screens, and if they even noticed Yuuri, it was only for a second or two. Probably no one even looked at the footage unless something went wrong… or something disappeared. Like a top-secret cryptid that only three people in the building even knew about.

Yuuri sighed as he went through the lunch line, the skin between his shoulder blades crawling. It felt like everyone in the room was staring at him, whispering about him. Like everyone already knew what he was thinking about and was just waiting for him to screw it up so they could laugh at him before locking him in some dark cell where he would never again see the light of day. It wasn’t true, he told himself, as he grabbed random dishes and set them on his tray, too distracted and distressed to make any real decisions about what to eat today. Nobody knew anything. Not yet.

But as he sat at a table and stared unseeingly down at his tray, he knew that the thing he had been avoiding thinking about for the past two days, ever since he had contacted Phichit about Ciao Ciao, could no longer be avoided. When Victor disappeared, Yuuri would have to disappear too.

“Wow, really hungry today, Dr. Katsuki?”

Yuuri blinked hard and looked up to find Minami smiling at him with slight confusion. Yuuri followed his gaze and actually _looked_ at the food he had put on his lunch tray. Somehow he had ended up with not only a salad and some kind of pasta dish, but also a sandwich, an orange, and three kinds of dessert. The blush hit him so fast that Yuuri felt light-headed for a minute.

“Oh, um…” Yuuri tried, but he couldn’t think of any logical excuse. “I… I guess so. Ha.” He forced a smile and met Minami’s questioning gaze head-on.

But Minami just smiled, back to his usual cheerful self, and clunked his own—reasonably filled—tray down on the table across from Yuuri. “Cool! I haven’t seen you in a couple of days! How are you doing?”

“I’m…” _Trying not to have a mental breakdown._ “Doing okay,” he said, forcing a calm tone into his voice. “How are you, Minami?”

Fortunately, that was all it took to set the enthusiastic young man off, and from that point on Yuuri didn’t need to do much besides make agreeable noises and try to shuffle food around on his tray enough that it looks like he ate… well, not all of it, but a decent amount, anyway. The orange he set to the side to take to the lab. At least Victor could enjoy that.

By the time he managed to excuse himself, his stomach felt bloated but his mind was slightly calmer. Minami was good for distracting his spiraling thoughts, even if Yuuri didn’t know what to do with his exuberance at times. He seemed so young and energetic and hopeful about everything, and right now that was far from what Yuuri saw in life.

He stared contemplatively at the orange in his hand the entire way down to his lab.

Victor splashed about the tank as if Yuuri had been gone for days instead of less than an hour when he returned, and he was very excited about the orange as well. Even though Yuuri knew he needed to take another sample upstairs and start some more tests, he allowed Victor to push him to his usual seat and they ate the orange together.

“Yuuri,” Victor said as he carefully nibbled on one segment of orange. When Yuuri glanced up, he seemed to be frowning in concentration, focusing more than usual on what he wanted to say. “Viictor… _I_ … like tank. Tank good. But… I like…” Victor grunted in frustration and flicked a seed to the side. “Where Yuuri tank? Victor go to Yuuri tank?”

Yuuri stared up at Victor, surprised to find himself blinking away tears. “Oh, um…”

Victor gently poked his cheek, looking sad. “I sorry, Yuuri. No sad. Sorry.”

Yuuri shook his head quickly. “No! No, I… I’m not sad. Not really. I just…” He sniffed and turned to face Victor. “Home. The tank here is where you live. It’s your home. Victor’s home.”

Victor’s eyes went wide. “Hoomme.”

“My home,” Yuuri continued, “my home is… I want to show you my home, Victor, I do.” Yuuri did, he realized, and he closed his eyes tightly for a few seconds. He did want to show Victor his home, but not his empty apartment. He wanted to take Victor back to Hasetsu, to his parents’ onsen. He wondered if Victor would like the hot springs. Would he like them more or less as a human? Would Yuuri ever get to find out? “Do you remember what we talked about yesterday, about us trying to get you out of here, Victor?”

Victor watched Yuuri carefully, eyes narrowed in concentration, and finally nodded. Yuuri could only pray that he truly did understand.

“When we get you out of here, I will. I’ll show you my home. I promise.”

Victor stayed very still for a minute, and Yuuri wondered if he had made a mistake. Did Victor really understand what Yuuri was trying to say? Should he have made promises that he didn’t know if he could really keep? But then Victor smiled, softly, and leaned over to rest his forehead against Yuuri’s, bumping Yuuri’s glasses down his nose. His wet hair slipped forward to drip onto Yuuri’s shirt. “I like Yuuri home,” he said.

Yuuri laughed quietly. “You haven’t even seen it yet,” he whispered roughly.

Victor hummed in annoyance. “Victor like Yuuri home,” he declared stubbornly.

“Okay. I believe you.” And Yuuri closed his eyes and rested there, his forehead against Victor’s, at peace for the first time in weeks.

~*~

Eventually, they pulled apart, and Victor finished his orange, and Yuuri took more samples upstairs and did more testing. Everything felt hazy to Yuuri, and yet at the same time sharp as glass. Yuuri knew what he needed to do. He didn’t have all the details worked out yet, but he was more determined than ever that he would find a way out for Victor.

Nobody was working near him in the lab today, which was a good thing. Every once in a while he would find himself smiling broadly for no reason at all (except maybe the thought of Victor wanting to see his home) and then minutes later he would realize that he was frowning, caught in the conundrum of walking out of a camera-filled lobby unseen. But even if he was distracted, he worked through his tests on autopilot. It was only as he was headed back downstairs that he realized something very important: the main lab didn’t seem to have any cameras either.

He couldn’t remain distracted long once he was back in his own lab. Victor trailed him around the tank as Yuuri made his daily observations and asked questions about what Yuuri was writing down.

Victor pouted more than usual when Yuuri started packing up his bag to head home for the evening. Yuuri went up the stairs one last time and took Victor’s outstretched hand, careful of the delicate webbing that stretched between his fingers. “I’ll be back in the morning, Victor.”

“Yuuri go home now?” Victor asked, playing with Yuuri’s fingers and not looking up to meet his eyes.

Feeling his chest go tight, Yuuri nodded. “Yes, I’m going home now.” He took in a deep breath. “But it’s not the home I want to show you, Victor. That home is far away. But we’ll see it together someday.”

“Victor and Yuuri go home? Together?” And this time Victor did look up, his eyes wide and pleading. “I go home with Yuuri… soon?”

Yuuri swallowed hard and squeezed Victor’s hands in both of his, smearing slime all over his sleeves as he did so. He didn’t want to give Victor false hope, but… He nodded firmly. “Yes. Soon. We’ll go home together. Soon.”

Victor smiled finally, then brought Yuuri’s fingers up and pressed them to his mouth. It wasn’t a kiss, not quite, but Yuuri’s heart felt like it stopped for a too-long moment and blood rushed in his ears. Reassured by their conversation, apparently, Victor slipped back into the tank without any more words, but Yuuri stood there for some time, trying to calm his racing heart before he risked facing anyone in the elevator.

It wasn’t until he got home that he remembered his earlier realization: the main lab didn’t have cameras either. It didn’t make sense to Yuuri, unless they were that worried about being hacked from the outside. They must either have great faith in their employees, which didn’t seem very likely to Yuuri, or greater faith in their security systems. Yuuri could only hope that whatever they were placing their faith in, it was overrated, because otherwise he wouldn’t have a chance of getting out without being caught. And he had no choice but to attempt this. Leaving Victor there indefinitely was unthinkable.

Yuri sent him a short text that evening. All it said was, _making progress_ , but it eased Yuuri’s worries a little bit. He had allies in this, people who also wanted to help Victor, even if they weren’t inside Selma Corp’s offices with them. And Phichit would help them the second Yuuri gave the word to go ahead. He could only hope that Ciao Ciao would also be willing.

But even if they had to go on the run with no assistance, Yuuri would still do this, although the thought sent his breathing speeding up uncomfortably fast. Leaving Victor in that tank was no longer an option for Yuuri. One way or another he would see this through.

Yuuri ate his supper and watched some mindless show on the TV and eventually got ready for bed with a strange calm settled into his head and chest. This, he realized, as he lay in his bed with his phone charging on the nightstand beside him, was what it felt like to have an unshakable determination to do something. Yuuri was afraid—he could feel it quivering in the corners, waiting to pounce—but right now he knew beyond a doubt that he was going to risk everything despite all his fears. Victor was worth this. Doing the right thing was worth whatever consequences might come down on him, especially if he got Victor somewhere safe first.

He fell asleep with that steady burn of conviction still warm in his chest, eyes occasionally drifting open to make sure that he didn’t have any new notifications on his phone. For the first time since he started this job, maybe even since he was first contacted by NuHuman, he slept well the whole night through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Vitya picrew!](https://twitter.com/lexical_dreamer/status/1252241885747449857) Because I could. :D
> 
> If you missed it last week, please go look at the [GORGEOUS ART](https://twitter.com/Kazul9/status/1249679345460928513) that Kazul9 did of Vitya. 😍😍😍😭😭😭😭
> 
> Also, today is the first day of [YoI Selfcest Fest](https://twitter.com/yoiselfcestfest)! Please check it out and give some love to all the artists and writers who are participating. I'll day posting a (SFW) oneshot for Day 4's theme, Stuck in Isolation Together. 😉 And if selfcest isn't your thing, don't worry. There's plenty of other prompts that should inspire some *very* good content.
> 
> As always, thank you for reading along! I hope you have a great week and stay safe and healthy. 😘


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: None for this chapter.
> 
> Phichit comes to visit and Yuuri finally confesses everything.

The next few days were a waiting game. Yuuri kept his phone charged at all times, never letting the battery drop below 50%. He was constantly checking and double-checking to be sure he hadn’t missed any messages from Yuri or Otabek or Phichit or heaven forbid, Ciao Ciao. But Tuesday and Wednesday passed with no word from anyone. So Yuuri did the only thing he could. He worked.

He spent hours at his computer, updating his database of information on Victor, even though he knew it would be useless. More and more information showed just how _human_ he was, with only coincidental fish-like traits. And there weren’t any other merpeople out there that this information could be used to help analyze. It was just Victor. Hopefully, soon, it wouldn’t even be him.

Victor succeeded in distracting him often with conversations, and he became better and better at putting together sentences, sometimes picking up words that Yuuri couldn’t even remember saying to him before, although he must have. Either that, or Victor was remembering things from other interactions with researchers. After all, he had spent years at NuHuman. Even if he hadn’t been speaking then, he still had ears and could listen. It was possible he had picked up a lot of language earlier and never had a way to use it until now. Thinking about that made Yuuri feel sad, imagining Victor listening to researchers discuss him as if he were nothing but an animal, and however interesting it might be from a scientific standpoint, Yuuri quickly decided that language wasn’t his area of expertise and so there was no point in dwelling on it.

Whenever he wasn’t with Victor, he was up in the main lab doing more tests. Now that he was aware of the lack of cameras, he took the opportunity to leave his workstation more often, when he was in the middle of long tests that didn’t need supervision. He tried to be discreet, but wasn’t sure how well he was succeeding. But the other researchers seemed to attribute his new wandering as Yuuri finally coming out of his shell and just being curious, to Yuuri’s relief. He looked at all the other specimens and chatted with the other researchers when they approached him, though they mostly left him alone and did their own thing.

It wasn’t until Wednesday, though, that he discovered the second elevator. He really should have expected it—after all, his own top secret lab had a service elevator, even if it was locked down all the time—but he still had to stifle an excited gasp when he rounded a set of anaerobic chambers and saw the wide elevator doors right in front of him. He managed to continue on his exploration of the habitats on that side of the room after a minute of staring, but his heart thumped so loudly he feared the others would hear it.

Nobody looked at him funny as he returned to his workstation and pretended to be busy with taking notes until he calmed down, however.

He didn’t feel confident enough to ask someone about it until Thursday, and that conversation was more luck than anything else.

JJ had decided to pick a workstation right next to Yuuri’s again that morning, and they had spent a couple of hours in mostly friendly chatter about the creature that JJ was currently working with, a very large mammal whose features were mostly hidden under the amazing amount of long, soft fur.

“Foxtrot is one of our newest guests,” JJ explained, giving it a friendly pat that was somewhere in the vicinity of its head. “It’s only been here a month now. It was pretty skittish when it first arrived, but it’s settled in pretty nicely now. Although it hates Bravo.” JJ sent a sharp look toward the opposite end of the lab where Seung-gil had Bravo out of his habitat and was conducting some sort of agility test with him.

Yuuri hesitantly patted the mound of fluff and quickly melted when it leaned into his hand, nearly bowling him over with its weight. “It’s very friendly,” Yuuri said with a laugh, obligingly scratching at… some body part. It seemed to enjoy it. He eyed the size of the creature and glanced toward the main elevator. “Surely it didn’t fit in the elevator though?”

JJ laughed. “Of course not! We brought it down in the service elevator. Over there,” he clarified, hooking his thumb over his shoulder toward the back of the room. “Supplies come down that way as well.”

Supplies, of course. Yuuri chewed on his bottom list. “Oh, yes, that makes sense. I just hadn’t realized… Do just the maintenance people have access to it then?” Yuuri fought down a cringe at his less-than-subtle approach.

JJ didn’t seem to notice anything unusual with his question. He shook his head. “Anyone with basic security access can use it, just a badge swipe like the elevator. It leads to the loading docks and back entrance, so it’s not very convenient for anything though.”

“Oh.” Yuuri nodded quickly. “That makes sense.”

The conversation drifted to other topics from there. Slowly, Yuuri felt his heart rate calm, as JJ continued to ramble on about Foxtrot’s latest interesting quirks and his beloved Isabella’s latest… everything, honestly. Nobody was suspicious about him asking about an elevator. Nobody had reason to be.

Still, Yuuri didn’t feel completely relaxed until he was back in his own lab with Victor. He had brought his own lunch today, so he wouldn’t have to be away from him any longer than he had to be, and he had stocked up on fruits on his last trip to the grocery so that Victor could join him. Victor was slowly getting more adventurous about trying other things from Yuuri’s lunch, now that Yuuri was confident that none of it was likely to hurt him or upset his digestive system, but Victor was still partial to the fruits.

It was after lunch was over that Yuuri got the text he’d been waiting for.

 **Phichit:** ciao ciao says hes in. we need to meet this weekend so i can get more details. whens good?

Yuuri exhaled deeply and pushed his fingers against his desk until the trembling stopped.

 **Yuuri:** i’m free whenever. text me when you get in town, in case i’m in the lab.

 **Phichit:** ^^ do i get to see your place??

Yuuri rolled his eyes at Phichit’s immediate about-face from serious to excited.

 **Yuuri:** its not very exciting. i’ve only lived here for a month u know

 **Phichit:** more importantly dO I GET TO MEET THE CUTIE????

 **Yuuri:** you KNOW that’s not happening. not yet

 **Yuuri:** but i might tell you about him?

 **Phichit:** !!!!!!!!!!

 **Phichit:** i’ll text u as soon as i get in!!

 **Phichit:** we can have a sleepover!!!!

 **Yuuri:** your ridiculous

 **Phichit:** u love me ;D

 **Yuuri:** … thanks phichit

 **Yuuri:** i really appreciate this

 **Phichit:** save the sappiness for when i can give u lots of hugs

 **Phichit:** ok gotta make travel plans see you soon!

Yuuri set his phone down on the desk, closed his eyes, and let out a deep, heartfelt sigh. Ciao Ciao was in. That was one big problem that Yuuri no longer had to worry about. He would have to text Yuri later to let him know the good news.

Then Yuuri spun his desk chair around and looked to the top of the tank, already smiling. As expected, Victor was there, leaning over the edge and splashing water lightly. “We’re going to do it, Victor. We’re going to get you out of here.”

Victor grinned back, eyes practically sparkling. “Victor go to Yuuri’s home soon?”

“Very soon, Victor. Very soon.”

~*~

He texted Yuri soon after, letting him know that his contact had come through, although he left the details about new identification papers vague in the text. They had discussed it in person, and Yuri would understand. It was a couple of hours before he got a response and it was just a short acknowledgment and a note that they had made more progress. Yuuri was tempted to text back and ask for more news, but he resisted. Maybe they could meet in person again this weekend, after Phichit’s visit.

He stayed later than usual that night. He hated leaving Victor alone for so many hours each day, and it wasn’t like it was very exciting at his apartment. In fact, it felt more lonely every day. Victor’s bright chatter and endless questions during his work day made him realize how much he missed having people around him that were… comfortable, for lack of a better word. People like his parents and Mari, Phichit, and even Minako-sensei. People that he didn’t feel like he had to pretend and hide when he was around them, at least not most of the time. Somehow, Victor had slipped under his skin and become one of those people for him.

So he sat in his usual spot leaning against the glass of the tank, with Victor hovering over his shoulder and dripping everywhere. Today, Victor seemed to be most interested in Yuuri’s phone, demanding that Yuuri show him all the games he had downloaded and poking at the screen whenever he could slip by Yuuri’s batting hands. The mucus on his hands smeared all over the phone and made it start behaving as if it was being touched all over the screen, much to Victor’s delight, until Yuuri had to laughingly pull it away and wipe it clean for fear of permanently damaging the touch screen.

“Yuuuurii,” Victor whined as he tucked the phone back into his pocket after scrubbing it clean. “Fruit game fun!” he declared and tried to stick his fingers into Yuuri’s pocket.

“Victor!” Yuuri couldn’t control his laughter. “Stop, that tickles!”

At those words, Victor’s eyes went wide and his grin lit up even bigger than before. “Tickles? What is tickles?” And then Victor proceeded to poke at Yuuri’s side until he was curled up on his side on the catwalk, wheezing, and Victor was nearly falling out of the tank to reach him. Yuuri batted his hands away weakly, gasping, and Victor finally subsided.

“That… that’s tickling, Victor. Shit.” Yuuri rubbed at his sides, which were aching from the laughter.

“Shit!” Victor repeated gleefully, and Yuuri fell into snickers again, helpless.

When Yuuri finally calmed down and opened his eyes again, Victor was hovering over him, staring down at Yuuri with such a fond expression that Yuuri’s chest started aching again. Without thought, Yuuri reached up and cupped Victor’s cheek in his palm. Victor closed his eyes and cooed softly, nuzzling closer.

Yuuri could feel the blush rising in his face, but he didn’t pull away. Victor looked so happy in that moment that he couldn’t force himself to, even if some part of him, a tiny voice in the back of his head, was screaming out about how wrong this was, about all the ways this was going to go so wrong so quickly. Yuuri shut that voice away and let himself enjoy this touch for as long as he could.

Eventually, he really couldn’t stay any longer. It was already late, and Yuuri did need to get some sleep tonight. Besides, his stomach had started growling noticeably, which led to Victor poking at it and almost devolved into another tickle fight, which Yuuri wasn’t sure he would be able to handle. Reluctantly, he said good night to Victor and resolutely ignored the pouting and whining that followed.

“Yuuri be back in the morning?” Victor asked as Yuuri put on his coat and got ready to leave the lab. “Tomorrow?”

Yuuri smiled up at him and nodded. “Yes, I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow, Victor. Anything you want me to bring?” he asked on a sudden impulse.

“Bring?” Victor hummed in thought, pressing his pointer finger to his bottom lip. “Small orange? Ah…” He frowned.

“Clementine? The little ones with thin skin?”

“Yes, Yuuri! Clemen-tiny!” Victor nodded enthusiastically. “Please!”

Yuuri laughed. “Okay, Victor. I’ll see if I can get some clementines for tomorrow.” He waved one last time. “Good night, Victor. Sleep well.”

Victor waved in response, a little bit sadly. “Good night, Yuuri…”

~*~

Friday was another normal day, filled with work that was becoming more and more frustrating and with waiting to hear from Yuri and Otabek. Victor was his bright spot, eagerly eating his clementines and smiling every time Yuuri looked at him. Today he seemed determined to ask questions about other “fish,” by which he meant animals in general, Yuuri eventually figured out, and they spent a couple of hours getting distracted by pictures of all kinds of animals on Yuuri’s phone. Victor seemed especially intrigued by birds, making Yuuri replay the videos of hummingbirds over and over, until Yuuri had to insist that he had to get back to work, if only to prepare and send in his weekly report to Ms. Saunders.

The report didn’t take as long as Yuuri would have liked. He had gotten too distracted talking to Victor and trying to figure out an escape plan this week, and he was afraid it showed. He spent an extra half hour going over the report and trying to fit in every extra detail that he could, anything to make it seem like he was still being productive. He didn’t know how long he would need to put off Ms. Saunders’ requests for more invasive procedures, so he had to drag out the testing he could perform on the samples he already had for as long as he could. Once he had padded the report as much as possible without arousing suspicion, he sent it in with a heartfelt wish that Ms. Saunders wouldn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Hopefully her lack of experience with marine life would work in his favor.

He worked on his database for a while after, feeling too anxious to go upstairs to the main lab and start more testing. He still had a small stash of samples remaining in his minifridge, but he had to stretch them out. He needed to ask Yuri how much longer he might need to drag this out so he could plan better. This weekend, after Phichit’s visit.

His phone buzzed on the desk, and Yuuri snatched it up as soon as he saw the notification on the screen.

 **Phichit:** hey, gonna be in town around 7

 **Phichit:** feed me?

 **Yuuri:** of course! u still have my address? ill get some take out

 **Phichit:** yup! ;D gonna be just like when we were roomies ≡(*′▽`)っ

 **Yuuri:** dork

 **Yuuri:** see you soon

 **Phichit:** o((*^▽^*))o

Yuuri set his phone down with care and leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief. Things were progressing, even if it didn’t feel like it was happening fast enough. Phichit would get things started with Ciao Ciao and new paperwork for Victor and Yuuri. Then it would just be waiting on Yuri and Otabek’s part. And figuring out how he was going to get Victor out of here.

“Yuuri?”

Yuuri swiveled in his chair and looked up at the merman. “Hey, Victor. What’s up?”

“Yuuri okay?” he asked, his face soft with worry.

Taking a deep breath, Yuuri gave him a small smile. “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m going to see a friend tonight, someone who’s going to help us.”

“Yuuri’s friend? Victor see friend?” He splashed his tail a little, spraying water.

Yuuri frowned. “I don’t know, Victor. I can’t bring him here without getting in trouble.”

“Oh.”

“But I think he’ll want to meet you when we get you out of here.” Yuuri blushed even as he said it. He knew that once he confessed just _who_ his “cutie” was that Phichit would _insist_ on meeting him, regardless of whether it was a good idea or not.

“I see Yuuri’s friend at Yuuri’s home?”

Yuuri smiled softly. “Yeah. I hope so.”

“Good,” Victor said, grinning again. “I want to see Yuuri’s home. Yuuri’s friend.”

Yuuri continued his work with a slightly lighter heart after that. There were still plenty of things that needed to happen before that, and things that could go wrong, but the idea of Victor looking forward to knowing Yuuri’s friends and home and family, that was a good feeling.

He couldn’t stay late that night, and Victor seemed to understand, not pouting as much as usual as he said good night and waved.

Yuuri picked up Thai take-out on the way home from one of the very few authentic places he had found in the area. By the time he got home, it was still a little while before Phichit was supposed to arrive, but he stuck the take-out boxes in the oven in hopes of keeping them warm and spent a few minutes picking up odd socks and dirty dishes that had somehow ended up scattered around the apartment.

He was pacing restlessly by the time he heard a knock on the door, and he flung himself across the room to open the door. Phichit was waiting on the other side, looking hardly a day older than the last time Yuuri had seen him almost a year ago. He jumped into Yuuri’s arms with a high-pitched squeal and Yuuri staggered under the unexpected weight, laughing and asking how he had even gotten into the building.

“Don’t question these things, Yuuri,” Phichit immediately responded, pressing a finger to Yuuri’s lips. “There are some things that you don’t want to know,” he whispered and winked.

Yuuri licked his finger, causing Phichit to jump down and frown dramatically. “You just came in behind someone, didn’t you?”

“Don’t ruin the mystery, Yuuri! I am a dangerous and shadowy hacker!”

“Who goes by the name HamsterChu. You’re not that dangerous,” Yuuri countered teasingly.

Phichit rolled his eyes and collapsed onto Yuuri’s coach with a groan. “Whatever. I’ve been traveling for _ever_ and you promised me food. Cough it up.”

By the time they were settled in with too many take-out boxes and drinks, the mood had sobered. Phichit attacked his food, but slowed down after a couple minutes to ask, “So, all I know is that you need new papers for someone. Ciao Ciao tentatively agreed, but he said he needs more details before he’ll say anything for sure. Who the hell do you know who needs a new identity?”

Yuuri poked his chopsticks at the chicken in front of him, stirring the contents before he worked himself up to an answer. “It’s kind of complicated.”

Phichit rolled his eyes. “No duh. C’mon, deets!”

“Well.” Yuuri cleared his throat and looked away from Phichit’s knowing gaze. “I… You know this new job I have…”

“Yes, Yuuri. We have been texting about this.” Then he gasped. “Is this about the cutie? Ohmygawd, are you running away together?”

“Um, I…” Yuuri could feel a full-face blush starting.

Phichit sat back abruptly, eyes going wide. “Wait, you are? Are you serious?”

Yuuri let his eyes fall closed for a minute and gathered his nerve. “His name is Victor and he’s… not entirely human. Or not right now. But he will be!” he assured Phichit, seeing his friend’s eyes go impossibly wider. “He’s… been in captivity a long time and he’s been experimented on and there’s some other people who are going to help me undo some of the things that NuHuman did to him in the first place and—”

“Whoa!” Phichit held up his hands as if to physically stop Yuuri’s gush of words. “Hold on. He’s not human? And who are these other people?” He took a deep breath, set his take-out container to the side, and reached out to take Yuuri’s hands. “I think you’d better start at the beginning.”

It took some time, starting from the beginning. He had to go all the way back, to when NuHuman first contacted him, asking him to apply for the job at Selma Corp, and then his first time meeting Victor. It was hard not to get distracted, talking about Victor, about how he was so smart and learning to speak so quickly and how he wanted to see Yuuri’s home. Phichit grinned wildly when Yuuri got stuck on one of his digressions, but redirected him back to the main story: Yuuri’s conviction that Victor shouldn’t be kept in a tank. The other Yuri’s revelation about Victor’s origins, and his introduction of Otabek. Their plan for reverting the changes to Victor’s DNA. Yuuri’s progress on trying to find a way to sneak Victor out of the Selma Corp labs.

When he finally finished, he was surprised to discover that he had started crying at some point. Phichit handed him some napkins and Yuuri hastily wiped his face and attempted to clean his smeary glasses.

“You’re planning to disappear with him, aren’t you?” Phichit asked kindly, small smile still in place.

“I… I mean, I’ll have to, I think? Well, not _with_ him, exactly. He… he might not…” Yuuri stopped and shook his head. “Selma Corp is going to know it’s me. No matter what I do, they’re going to know. And NuHuman will be suspicious too. I can’t… just stay, can I?”

Phichit nodded slowly. “Yeah, I can see how that might be a problem. I’ll talk it over with Ciao Ciao, and we’ll see what he suggests. He’s the expert, after all.”

Yuuri felt a little weight ease off his shoulders as one problem was taken from him. “Yeah. That’s smart.”

“We’ll have to get a picture and some more information from Victor, but that will wait until… after. So keep me in the loop about what’s happening, okay? And I’ll poke around Selma Corp’s and NuHuman’s systems and see what I can find out.”

“Oh!” Yuuri shot straight up. “No, you don’t need to do that! Yuri and Otabek are getting information, and I don’t want you to be at risk…”

Phichit leaned back into the cushions and scoffed. “Pffffft, if we leave everything to them, it’ll take _forever_. And they might miss something.” He winked at Yuuri and gave him a warm smile. “Don’t worry, I’m good at this. They won’t even know I was there.”

“I just don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Yuuri said quietly. “You or Yuri or Otabek. Or Victor.”

Phichit scooted forward and pulled Yuuri into a hug. “And the sooner we can get everything we need and get Victor out of there, the sooner everyone is safe. The faster we can do this and get out, the less risk there is for everyone. And I promise, I will take every precaution. Sure, they’ve got good security systems, but I’ve dealt with better. Okay?”

Yuuri nodded silently and sniffled against Phichit’s shirt. Wasn’t this meeting with Phichit supposed to make him feel better? But he supposed, as he pulled back and wiped his face again with the damp napkins, he did feel a little bit calmer, even with all of his worries.

They resumed eating quietly, and Yuuri slowly felt his tension ease.

“So,” Phichit said eventually, “any chance of me meeting Yurio and Otabek tomorrow?”

Yuuri almost dropped his chopsticks. “I— What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The past week has been crazier than usual, even in these crazy times, but every time I get a notification from AO3 that someone left a comment or kudo gives me a little boost, so thank you guys. And if you missed it, I posted a oneshot last week, so take a peek if you like enemies to lovers! 💖


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: none for this chapter.
> 
> The gang's all here, folks!

Saturday morning was hellish. Sometime last night, Phichit had convinced Yuuri that alcohol was _necessary_ when having a grown-up slumber party and movie night, and somewhere around midnight Yuuri’s memories of the night simply stopped. His headache was abominable when he was finally capable of dragging himself out of bed. Phichit took pity on him and only teased him very quietly, while also forcing water and painkillers down him and starting tea.

Yuuri gulped the tea too fast once Phichit set the mug in front of him, burning the roof of his mouth, but he hardly noticed through the haze of hangover. “I didn’t do anything too stupid last night, did I?” he finally asked, once he got up the nerve for whatever answer Phichit might have in store.

“Hmm, no. I mean you did ramble on for a bit about how you’re hopelessly in love with a merman, and maybe cried over how beautiful he is a time or two. And you apparently tried to call the lab? But I convinced you that Victor wouldn’t be able to answer the phone.” Phichit took a large bite out of a bagel that definitely hadn’t come out of Yuuri’s cabinets and smirked.

“Ughhhh.” Yuuri laid his head down on the table and whimpered quietly. “I really told you everything, didn’t I? This is the real reason you got me drunk, isn’t it.”

Phichit just snickered. “Wow, you aren’t even trying to deny it! I’m truly impressed at your self-awareness, Yuuri!”

“Yeah, well…” Yuuri shrugged his shoulders without peeling himself off the table. “I guess I can do some things right.”

Phichit came around the table and draped himself over Yuuri’s back like a human blanket. “Don’t say that, Yuuri. You know you’re amazing. Look at everything that you’ve accomplished! Do I have to get out the List again?”

Yuuri groaned and shook his head weakly. “Nooo.”

“Good. Then drink your tea and try to stomach some food.” Phichit moved away and went back to his bagel and tea. “I still want to meet this Yurio while I’m in town, so get those little fingers busy texting or I’ll steal your phone and do it myself.”

Yuuri looked up enough to glare weakly at Phichit. “Don’t you dare,” he muttered and dragged his phone into his lap. He sighed as he stared down at it. “I was planning on seeing if we could meet for updates today anyway.” Yuuri ignored Phichit as he crowed in approval and unlocked his phone to text Yuri.

 **Yuuri:** hey, can we meet today? there’s someone you need to meet, the friend i was telling you about

 **Yuuri:** he says he can get the info that Otabek needs faster

After he sent the texts, he scooted to a somewhat upright position in the chair and fumbled for his tea. “It might take him a bit to respond. He’s not usually fast about it.”

Phichit gasped in horror. “How could he bear to be parted from his phone?” He clutched his own to his chest like some matron with her pearls.

Yuuri rolled his eyes and immediately regretted it when it just made his head start pounding even more. “Not everyone is addicted like you are, Phichit. Or maybe he just likes ignoring me.”

“Maybe he has a crush on you and doesn’t want to seem too eager,” Phichit retorted, stuffing the remaining piece of his bagel into his mouth, cheeks bulging out just like one of his hamsters.

Yuuri just rolled his eyes. “Stop it. Besides I think he likes Otabek. I don’t know, there’s something going on between those two other than just working together.”

“Mmm, doesn’t mean he can’t have a baby crush on you. Anyway!” he continued as Yuuri directed a glare in his direction. “What should we do until we hear back from him?”

Yuuri shrugged and continued slurping his tea. “I don’t know, sleep?” Phichit snickered at him as he rubbed at his eyes. “I do need to go check on Victor sometime today and take care of the small tanks, but you won’t be able to come in with me.”

Phichit bounced up from the table anyway. “I can still check out their network from outside the building! Let’s go!”

Yuuri let himself be herded through the apartment until he managed to dress himself and do his morning bathroom routine. He couldn’t stand the thought of food, and instead grabbed a couple of remaining fruits from his last shopping trip to take to Victor. Before he even fully woke up, Phichit was pulling him out the door and toward the bus stop.

When they arrived at the Selma Corp offices, Yuuri left Phichit camped out at the cafe across the street, already snickering suspiciously over his tablet. The security guard seemed a little surprised to see him this early on a Saturday, but Yuuri just gave him a tired wave and hurried to the elevator. Downstairs, Victor exclaimed over the fruit and insisted on Yuuri eating some as well, which admittedly did help his stomach feel a little calmer. Yuuri told him about Phichit’s visit and that Phichit was going to try to help them get Victor out faster, and Victor hummed and patted Yuuri’s cheek fondly.

“Victor go home with Yuuri soon,” was all he said, and Yuuri nodded, fighting back tears briefly until Victor poked his cheek.

He couldn’t stay long today, since Phichit was waiting. And Victor let him go with hardly any pout at all, just a wave goodbye as usual. When Yuuri made it back to the cafe where Phichit was waiting, he was staring intently at his tablet and hardly noticed Yuuri sitting down across from him. Yuuri leaned closer until Phichit finally looked up at him with an awed expression.

“Holy crap, Yuuri, you guys have some crazy shit in there!” he burst out.

Yuuri frantically waved his hands. “Not so loud, Phichit! What are you looking at?” Yuuri glanced around the cafe worriedly, but nobody seemed to be paying them any attention.

Phichit flapped at hand at Yuuri’s concern. “It’s fine, I’m just looking at the specimen records. Oh, is that a puppy?”

Yuuri scooted his chair around the table and instantly cooed when he saw the pictures. “Oh, that must be Bravo as a puppy! I didn’t realize he had been at the lab so long. Such a sweet boy…”

“When we sneak Victor out, can we grab him too? Puppy doesn’t deserve that, no he doesn’t…” Phichit devolved into baby-talking at the screen, and Yuuri couldn’t stop the laughter.

“From what I understand, he can sometimes kill people? I’m not real clear on the details, but it’s probably not a good idea to keep him as a pet.”

Phichit gave Yuuri a disappointed pout. “I thought you would be on my side, Yuuri. What’s a few deaths between dog and master, really?”

Yuuri just shook his head and then scrabbled at his pocket when his phone buzzed.

 **Yuri:** 2 at the diner

 **Yuri:** u better not b fuckin with us

 **Yuuri:** okay. see you soon

When Yuuri tucked his phone away, Phichit was watching him and waiting. “Well?”

“Two o’clock,” Yuuri responded. “And a warning not to fuck with him.”

“Aww, Yurio has a little crush!”

Yuuri just rolled his eyes and asked what Phichit wanted to do for lunch.

~*~

Thanks to Phichit, they were not early to meet Yuri and Otabek as was Yuuri’s habit. Instead the pair were already waiting for them when Yuuri dragged Phichit through the door of the diner. Yuri scowled as they entered. “Where the fuck have you been?”

Phichit was laughing too hard to answer even if he wanted to, and Yuuri was just panting and trying not to panic about just how late they were. At least they hadn’t left. Otabek, however, placed a hand on Yuri’s shoulder and shook his head slightly. “They’re only three minutes late, Yura.”

Yuri hmphed and turned back around. Yuuri found a clock on the diner wall and confirmed that Otabek was right: they were only a few minutes late, even if they had had to run from the bus stop to get here. He grabbed Phichit’s hand and pulled him to the booth to sit down. “Sorry about that,” he muttered, still trying to catch his breath.

They took a few minutes to catch their breath and place their orders with the same waitress who had served them before, looking just as bored and uninterested in them as before. When she left, Yuuri made belated introductions.

Phichit immediately burst out with “So you’re Yurio!” and Yuri gave Yuuri the stinkeye.

“You told him that?” he demanded, outraged.

“No!” Yuuri tried to defend himself. “It wasn’t me, I swear. My sister must have told him.”

Yuri just continued to glare while Phichit cackled in the background. Otabek cleared his throat and introduced himself, getting them back on track.

Phichit leaned across the table, eyeing Yuri and Otabek with an eagerness that made Yuuri anxious. “So, what kind of information are you still looking for? I’m sure I can hack their system and get what you’re looking for if you give me some guidance.”

To Yuuri’s surprise, Otabek immediately jumped into the conversation. “How much do you know about genetic profiling? Would you be able to recognize the files that I need?”

With that, Phichit and Otabek went off into a conversation that became far too detailed in vocabulary outside of his specialty, and Yuuri and Yuri found themselves sitting back and awkwardly eyeing each other. After a brief interruption when the waitress dropped off their orders, they still didn’t have anything to talk about.

Eventually, Yuri ventured, “So how do you know Phichit?”

“Oh.” Yuuri fumbled with the straw in his vanilla milkshake. “We were roommates in college. Only for a year, but…” Yuuri shrugged and stumbled over his words for a minute. “I guess he—Phichit—kind of, latches on to a person and doesn’t let go? He decided that we would be friends and didn’t give up until I agreed.” Yuuri laughed a little, feeling awkward. “I guess it’s a good thing, because I’m… not so great at the friends thing.”

Yuri sucked noisily at his shake for a minute before he responded. “Yeah, that’s cool…”

They sat in silence for a few more minutes, Yuuri only half listening to the tech and science babble that Otabek and Phichit were communicating in. But he perked up when Phichit said, in a tone of finality, “Monday for an early lunch, then. I’ll send you a text when I arrive and you can hang over my shoulder to make sure I’m getting all the right files.”

Otabek nodded. “And you’re sure that they won’t be able to detect that you’re in there? We don’t want to alert them to anything any sooner than we have to.”

Phichit brushed the concern aside with a hand. “After I get a peek at the system if I’m worried, then we can put it off to the last minute, but I doubt it will be an issue. Hey Yuuri,” Phichit said, turning in his direction. “When’s the earliest that you can sneak Victor out of there?”

Yuuri froze up for a second at being put on the spot and had to scramble to recover. “Um, I… I haven’t worked out all the details yet? But either way, a Friday night is probably the best idea. They’re less likely to notice anything’s wrong for at least a day or two that way. On a weekday, they’d start wondering why I hadn’t shown up for work the next morning.”

Phichit frowned. “I suppose that makes sense. I want to get my fingers in that system though.” He slumped forward and pouted for a minute, before perking up again. “But hey, this way if it takes longer than a lunch break to get everything, we’ve got time. And I can be _extra_ careful to leave no tracks if I’ve got a week, right?”

Otabek appeared to find this acceptable, as he nodded and relaxed back in his seat. Phichit glanced around the table. “So it’s settled? It’s going down Friday night. Operation Merman!”

Yuuri frantically shushed Phichit when the waitress gave them a tired look, and Yuri rolled his eyes then asked, “Where are we taking the fishman anyway? He can’t just hang out at Katsuki’s apartment until this is all over with.”

All four of them glanced around the table at each other like something out of a comedy routine, and then Yuuri tipped his head forward onto the table. “Oh shit,” he muttered, causing Phichit to gasp in fake astonishment. Yuuri turned his head to the side enough to glare, but Phichit was already talking.

“I’ll talk to Ciao Ciao about it, and if he doesn’t have anything that we can use, we’ll just go to one of those rent-a-dump motels that don’t ask any questions, okay? It’s only temporary anyway. Problem solved.”

Otabek made a face, probably at the thought of performing any kind of procedure in one of those motel rooms, which Yuuri couldn’t blame him for, but he agreed over Yuri’s protestations. “It’s not ideal, but it will work if we don’t have any other options.”

After a final confirmation of their plans for the week, they were done. Yuri grabbed Otabek’s arm and dragged him out of the diner without paying, muttering something about having plans for the evening, and Phichit and Yuuri were alone.

“Hey,” Phichit said, wrapping an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders. “You doing okay?”

“I don’t know,” Yuuri mumbled, poking his straw into his mostly empty milkshake glass. “I just… This is happening so fast. I feel like I can’t keep up with everything.”

Phichit leaned into him. “Maybe it is, but in a week it will all be over with. Then we can take time to process, okay? You just have to make it through this week.”

Yuuri closed his eyes for a long moment, trying to take strength from Phichit’s hug. “Also… I still don’t really know how I’m getting Victor out?” He winced and peeked open one eye to look at Phichit.

Phichit squinted at him, but didn’t pull away. “Yuuri?”

He hurried to explain. “I mean, I have ideas! There’s a service elevator in the main lab, but I don’t know where it leads to, and am I supposed to push Victor around on that gurney the whole time? I’m not even sure if it will _fit_ into the normal elevator, and he’ll be totally obvious if anyone is there late and—”

Phichit stopped his babble with a hand over his mouth. “Okay, first of all, slow down for a minute and take a _deep_ breath.”

Yuuri nodded and obeyed as best he could with Phichit’s hand still covering his mouth.

“Good.” Phichit pulled his hand away and gripped Yuuri’s shoulders instead. “Now. Why don’t you tell me about the lab and what ideas you have so far, and we’ll come up with some ideas for you to check out this week, okay?”

They ended up ordering more food as they sat there trying to plan out a viable escape route. The lack of cameras, at least as far as Yuuri could tell, was definitely a help. The lack of access routes, on the other hand, made things more difficult, as did the fact that it was impossible to predict whether or not someone would be there at any given time. Yuuri knew from experience that sometimes a researcher just got caught up and didn’t leave. Plus, there were some nocturnal creatures in the main lab, and it wasn’t unheard of for researchers to spend the night once in a while. There was no way to plan for that, and they would just have to hope for the best.

But by the end of their conversation, Yuuri did feel better about it. Phichit had already said that he would find some blueprints and find out exactly where the service elevator exited to, and Yuuri would do as much exploring as he felt comfortable with, including keeping an eye out for something other than the gurney to transport Victor, preferably something smaller and more maneuverable.

By Friday, they would have some sort of plan worked out. Even if it was shaky, as long as it worked well enough to get Victor out, that was the important part. “If you have to go out through the fucking lobby,” Phichit assured him, “do it. Someone will be there to make sure you get away.”

By the time they made it home, it was starting to get dark, and Phichit locked himself in Yuuri’s bedroom to call Ciao Ciao while Yuuri collapsed on the couch to let his mind go blank for a while. So much had happened in the past few weeks, and Yuuri didn’t know how to process it all. He felt overwhelmed with everything, and he wasn’t sure how to sort it all out in his head. But he had to keep in mind the reason he was doing this: Victor. All of this was for Victor, because he didn’t deserve what had happened to him—no one deserved that—and though Yuuri couldn’t fix the past, he could ensure that Victor had a future that was more than living in a tank as a research specimen for the rest of his life.

It didn’t help sort out the confusion in Yuuri’s head, but it did help him ignore it, for the time being. Phichit was right: after Friday, he would have plenty of time to think everything through. For now, he just had to focus on getting Victor out, and let everything else wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Monday again already?? What kind of nonsense is this??? As always, thanks for reading and commenting and kudo'ing! I appreciate every hit, I hope you know. 💖💖💖


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: none for this chapter.
> 
> _Emotions_

Phichit ended up staying with him the whole week, turning Yuuri’s living room into a war zone of cables and screens in no time. According to Phichit, Ciao Ciao was looking for a safe location for them to stay after Friday that wouldn’t be too far to transport a not-very-transportable merman. Yuuri wondered nervously how much he was going to owe Ciao Ciao after this, but he was taking Phichit’s advice to heart and leaving those worries for next week. Whatever the cost, it would be worth it to get Victor out of there.

Yuuri went into work Monday and did his best to act as if everything was normal, just like he had been for the past few weeks. He had new emails from Ms. Saunders that were worrisome, but he shoved them out of his mind. He just had to put her off until Friday. He could promise backward and forward that he would start those tests she wanted next week. It didn’t matter now; by then they would both be gone. And so he came up with appropriate excuses and said just that: next Monday he would begin. His stomach churned when he hit send, even though he knew it would be fine. He would never have to perform those procedures, and Victor would never have to endure them. It would be fine.

Victor was excited to have Yuuri back for the full day again, and this time when he asked about meeting Yuuri’s friend, Yuuri could give him an answer better than “soon.”

“On Friday,” he told Victor, speaking quietly, even though there was no reason to. “On Friday we’re going to get you out of here. Some friends are going to help us get you back to the way you’re supposed to be.”

Victor tipped his head to the side, asking “Friiday?” and Yuuri shook his head quickly, realizing that _of course_ Victor didn’t know the days of the week. Instead he grabbed Victor’s hands and started counting days until he thought Victor had the concept. “Four tomorrows!” he said cheerfully, and then spent the rest of the morning practicing counting to ten over and over, and bugging Yuuri whenever he thought he might have forgotten one.

Meanwhile, Yuuri planned. There was no guarantee that Phichit would be able to get a hold of the blueprints, so Yuuri’s first priority was to find out where the service elevator went. If only he had any idea of how to do that without just bluntly asking.

Deliveries had to come down that way, though. And Yuuri could arrange for a delivery. That was something he very much had the authority to do.

He spent the morning checking over his small tanks and taking his observations on Victor’s tank. He needed to come up with an order that was just the right balance. It needed to be big enough that it would be convenient to be unloaded at the dock and brought down in the service elevator, but small enough that it would still fit—even if barely—in the main elevator to get down to this lab. If he ended up having to contact Ms. Saunders to unlock the service elevator that came all the way down here, the whole experiment would be useless. Yuuri also wanted it to be something that he would feel justified in asking to escort it all the way into the building, something that needed care in moving, that way he would have a good excuse to use the service elevator himself and see its surroundings upstairs.

As he paced up and down the row of small tanks, he considered carefully, and then finally called in an order with one of his suppliers. It was nothing that could be considered out of the ordinary, just another batch of live fish. But he made sure the order was large enough that they would have to be delivered by truck, nd the species he chose was one that was relatively delicate and wouldn’t survive mishandling, which gave him perfect justification to oversee their delivery.

The order wouldn’t be ready until Wednesday, his supplier informed him. They would call Wednesday morning to confirm the time of delivery. With that taken care of, Yuuri leaned back in his desk chair with a sigh. Hopefully the service elevator would provide the escape route that they needed. That only left the method of transportation to be decided.

He spent another hour exploring the lab one more time. It seemed like new objects were always popping up in dark corners when he least expected them, but even though he did find a stash of unopened boxes of specimen containers, he didn’t find anything actually useful. By then, it was time for lunch.

Victor was disappointed when he realized that Yuuri didn’t plan to eat lunch down there in the lab like last week, but Yuuri had decided that the best way to plan this escape was by getting information from the people who had been here longer: his coworkers. He wasn’t particularly looking forward to it either, and he wasn’t at all sure how to get any information from them, but it was too late now. It was past noon and he didn’t have any food except live fish and some seaweed. It was the cafeteria or nothing.

He didn’t succeed in getting any new information at lunch, but that was more to do with Yuuri’s lunch companion than lack of effort on his part. Much to his surprise, Seung-gil sat with him once Yuuri found a table, and they spent the entire lunch eating silently, with the occasional comment on Bravo’s latest good behavior. Even though Seung-gil was stern and avoided eye-contact, Yuuri couldn’t help but appreciate his fondness toward Bravo. Anyone who loved dogs, even ones who were larger than usual and had red eyes, was okay in Yuuri’s book.

Even though lunch was a bust, Yuuri still felt pretty good about his progress toward an escape plan. He did busywork with samples in the main lab that afternoon, passing the time chatting with JJ and making mostly illegible notes in his notebook. If it took him longer to decipher it later, that was just another way to keep himself busy until Friday.

Victor was pleased to see him when he made his way back to his lab close to quitting time. Yuuri took his time organizing his desk for tomorrow and logging out of his computer before climbing up to the catwalk. He wasn’t ready to leave yet, even though he wouldn’t be going home to an empty apartment today. He hadn’t spent enough time with Victor yet.

Just a few more days, he reminded himself. It was only a few days until Friday, and then he would be able to spend as much time with Victor as he wanted. As long as Victor still wanted to spend time with Yuuri too.

Yuuri shook away that thought and shifted into his usual seat, tipping his head back to view Victor upside-down. “Hey, Victor.”

“Hello, Yuuri,” he responded, smiling down at him. Droplets of water splash onto Yuuri’s face and glasses, but he didn’t flinch, used to it by now. Victor pushed his dripping hair over his shoulder and poked Yuuri’s cheek. “Time for Yuuri to go home?” he asked.

“Soon.” Yuuri sighed. “I just… I’d rather talk to you for a while.” As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Yuuri blushed and covered his face with his hands. “Ughhhh, never mind, don’t listen to me.”

Victor pulled Yuuri’s hands away, smearing slime everywhere. “Yuuri…” Victor cooed. “Victor and Yuuri friends.” He leaned down and rested his head against Yuuri’s shoulder, even though the angle was incredibly awkward. “Victor stay with Yuuri soon. Yuuri not leave then.”

Hesitantly, Yuuri reached up and ran his fingers through Victor’s tangled mass of hair, petting the wet strands lightly. “Yes,” he agreed, closing his eyes. “Soon.”

It turned out that he and Victor didn’t talk much at all while they sat there, but Yuuri enjoyed it immensely anyway. The gentle touches that they exchanged soothed his frantic mind, for a few minutes at least. Eventually, he had to pull himself away and return home, but even their goodbyes were quiet and soft. As he dimmed the lights and rode the elevator up to the ground floor, Yuuri couldn’t wait for tomorrow morning.

~*~

Tuesday was just as uninteresting as Monday had been. Yuuri fiddled with his notes for as long as possible and ate lunch with Victor, having given up on the cafeteria as a useful source of information after yesterday. Eventually he had to go upstairs to do more testing, as he couldn’t think of anything else productive to do in his own lab. Tomorrow he should have plenty of excuses to stay downstairs for most of the day, once his shipment came in. Hopefully that would also give him a better idea of how to get Victor out of the labs. The slowly approaching deadline was making Yuuri more and more anxious as it loomed without him making any more progress toward a firm plan. The only part of the plan that depended on him, and he couldn’t seem to figure it out. At least Phichit had tracked down some blueprints for the building, but they were horribly out of date, which Phichit declared was definitely on purpose. The service elevator that they needed information on wasn’t even on the blueprint. It was up to Yuuri to find out what they needed to know.

Wednesday was better, if only because a half hour after he arrived he got the call from his supplier about the delivery. It was scheduled to arrive at 1 P.M. Yuuri thanked them hurriedly and hung up, excitement thrilling in the pit of his stomach. This was his opportunity and he had to take advantage of it.

He called the reception desk and explained his situation.

“Of course, that’s fine, Dr. Katsuki. You said it’s going to be delivered to the loading dock?” When Yuuri gave his confirmation, she continued, “Let me send your call through to the Maintenance department, then. They’ll arrange for everything to be delivered downstairs to you.”

Yuuri didn’t have a chance to thank her before crackly elevator music filled his ear. Luckily, he only had to listen for a minute before the line was picked up. “Hello?”

“Yes? This is Yuuri Katsuki…” Yuuri trailed off, unsure.

“Dr. Katsuki, what can I do for you?”

With the longer phrase, Yuuri recognized the gruff voice. “Oh, Mr. Brum!”

“I told you before to call me Anthony,” he interrupted.

Yuuri smiled. “Yes, Anthony. I was hoping you could help me with a delivery I’m receiving this afternoon…”

It took a few minutes to discuss all the details of the delivery, but fortunately Mr. Brum—er, Anthony—was no more anxious to have to call Ms. Saunders to unlock the service elevator to the B2 lab than Yuuri was. Yuuri had thought ahead and had the exact dimensions of the tank that they were delivering the fish in at hand, and Mr. Brum was convinced that using the main elevator for the last trip was acceptable.

“And you’re sure you can handle the dolly fine? It’ll be tricky with that tank on it.”

Yuuri nodded quickly, even though Mr. Brum couldn’t see him. “Yes, I’ll be fine,” he hurried to assure Mr. Brum. “I’ve moved plenty of tanks in my days at university.” A slight exaggeration perhaps, but not too egregious of one. “And I don’t have to move it far. I’ll make sure the path is clear before I come up this afternoon.”

“Alright then,” Mr Brum conceded. “Just come up a few minutes early since it’s a delicate thing, like you said. The crew won’t want to mess up any of Dr. Katsuki’s deliveries, I know.”

“Oh, ah…” Yuuri stuttered briefly at the comment, unsure if it was a compliment or something else. “Well, I appreciate that. Um, my badge will work on the service elevator, right?”

Mr. Brum grunted in what Yuuri took as agreement. “No special access needed for that thing, nope. See you at one o’clock.”

After a short goodbye, they hung up and Yuuri stretched back in his chair with a relieved sigh.

Victor splashed to the surface of the tank. “Good, Yuuri?”

“Yes!” Yuuri called, feeling a little exuberant from his small success. “Very good. I’m going to scout an escape route this afternoon.”

Victor cocked his head to the side, then smiled. “For Victor to leave soon?”

Laughing, Yuuri spun his chair around. “Yes! Only two more days, Victor.”

Victor grinned and held up two fingers. “One, two tomorrows!” he crowed and splashed water everywhere.

After that, it was impossible not to watch the clock tick by for the rest of the morning. Yuuri poked at his notes and the database, trying to enter the results from yesterday’s batch of testing, but it was difficult to focus for longer than a few minutes at a time. Victor kept asking when Yuuri was supposed to go look at the “leave soon,” and Yuuri ended up distracting both of them by giving Victor a tutorial on time and clocks. He ended up letting Victor keep his watch for the time being, even though it had been a gift from his parents and more expensive than he sometimes liked to think about. At least it was waterproof.

By the time lunch rolled around, Victor had run out of questions for the moment, and Yuuri had managed to focus long enough to enter a little bit more data. As had become usual for mealtimes spent in the lab, he sat on the catwalk to eat, Victor hanging over his shoulder and snitching bites whenever he felt like it. Yuuri had long ago stopped worrying about that and let Victor pick as he would. He was even getting used to the taste of saltwater sprinkled over all his food. Sometimes Yuuri wondered if he smelled more like the sea than anything else, after being half-damp with saltwater all day thanks to Victor.

Still, they weren’t as leisurely about their meal as usual, and Yuuri started packing up his lunch things at quarter to one. Victor promptly lifted his watch out of the water and read the numbers to Yuuri solemnly, then waved as he sent Yuuri off to his appointment.

Logically, Yuuri knew he had no reason to feel nervous as he walked through the main lab toward the service elevator. He had every right to be doing this. In fact, right now he was _expected_ to do this. Mr. Brum would be waiting for him on the ground floor, ready to have Yuuri oversee the unloading of his delicate order of fish. But still, he couldn’t help but feel that eyes were on him, watching suspiciously.

He wasn’t entirely wrong. Minami waved at him from a nearby workstation, but he was the furthest thing from suspicious. A couple of worktables over, Seung-gil looked up briefly and nodded as Yuuri walked by. Everyone normal, no one paying special attention to Yuuri. He took a deep breath as he arrived at the service elevator.

Even though Mr. Brum had told him that there would be no problems, Yuuri relaxed when the elevator accepted his badge swipe and started rumbling upward. At the ground level, Mr. Brum and two familiar-looking maintenance crew members were waiting.

Yuuri nodded as Mr. Brum glanced over at him. “Still waiting for the truck,” he said shortly, nodding out at the wide platform that opened up into a tiny back lot that Yuuri had never seen on his tour. Yuuri moved a little closer to the waiting men, and took his chance to look around.

There was nothing special about the loading dock. It was a big, bare space, with stacks of crates and equipment along the walls and in the corners. Two rolling metal doors were mounted in the wall, one of which was wide open in anticipation of the coming delivery, and right next to them was a normal doorway with a badge reader just like all the other doors had. Next to the elevator that he had exited was a second set of elevator doors, with a bold “B2” painted on them, the service elevator that led to his own lab.

But most importantly, there were cameras.

Yuuri felt his heart sink in his chest, but he struggled not to show it.

This could have been perfect. It was a short distance from the elevator to the door outside, and a car could be parked right there and waiting for them. But now, even if he found some way of hiding Victor, it would still be far too obvious that he was sneaking _something_ out, and it wouldn’t take long to figure out what.

After that realization, the wait for the delivery seemed endless, worse than the morning’s wait, even if it was technically much shorter. He kept looking around the empty space, hoping some brilliant idea would strike him out of nowhere, solving his problem. But nothing had come to him by the time the delivery truck arrived, so Yuuri shoved it to the back of his mind for the time being. He had a delivery to oversee.

Fortunately, all went well. The men delivering the fish were experienced at handling the tanks, and the same could be said the workers at Selma Corp. The transfer was easy and painless, and as the truck drove off to make its next delivery, Mr. Brum was already guiding the dolly with the tank into the service elevator, another crew member stabilizing the tank from the top, even though it was already strapped tightly to the dolly.

The ride down to the main lab and the journey to the main elevator was a simple, but slow venture. Mr. Brum paused after calling the main elevator, though, propping the doors open with one foot. He eyed Yuuri carefully. “You’ve cleared a path?”

Yuuri nodded seriously and resisted the urge to respond with a prompt “Yes, sir!”

“Alright,” Mr. Brum conceded after another minute. “Get on in there.” He gestured toward the elevator.

Yuuri got on and squeezed to the side as Mr. Brum delicately backed into the elevator with the dolly. It took some maneuvering for Mr. Brum to get back out of the elevator, but he made it and nodded to Yuuri. “Return the dolly when you get the chance,” he said simply.

Yuuri nodded and stretched to swipe his badge and press the floor button. “I will. Thank you for your help.” Then the doors separated them.

Yuuri slumped back against the wall as the elevator slid into motion with a quiet hum. He stared at the fish swimming happily in their tank and wondered if it was all worth it. The elevator doors eased open before Yuuri could decide.

It was an awkward few minutes of maneuvering the tank before he got it settled in place, but he hadn’t been lying to Mr. Brum when he said he had prepared a spot and a path to get to it. Even with the dolly and the straight path, Yuuri was panting a little bit by the time he got the tank into position.

He took a minute to examine the fish, but they all seemed to be doing okay after the trip. He checked the temperature and salinity, and all seemed to be fine with that as well. He might’ve only bought the fish as an excuse to see the service elevator and loading dock, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t care what happened to them.

Briefly, he wondered what would happen to all the stock fish he had in the tanks now, but he forcefully shoved that thought out of his mind. He had to worry about Victor right now. Fish were much lower priority.

“More fish, Yuuri?” Victor called out, splashing to the surface and trying rather futilely to lean closer and see the new fish tank.

“Yep, new fish,” Yuuri said, then reached for a nearby bucket. “Do you want to try?”

“Yes!” Victor watched eagerly as Yuuri scooped a couple of the colorful fish into a bucket. The salinity in the big tank wasn’t right for them, but if Victor was just going to eat them anyway, it wouldn’t matter for long.

He trudged up the stairs to the catwalk and offered the bucket to Victor, before sinking down to his usual spot. He could hear Victor splashing and making a few of those quiet chirping noises he used to make before he had learned to use words, but he didn’t bother turning around. Instead, he closed his eyes, pulled his knees up to his chest, and curled forward.

He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there, but eventually the noises Victor was making stopped and he felt the gentle patter of water against the back of his neck, warm droplets slipping under his collar. He heard the quiet “Yuuri” and felt the gentle poke of sharp nails against his cheek, but he didn’t look up yet. He wasn’t ready to admit his defeat yet.

“Yuuuuri…” Victor gave up his poking and instead began stroking Yuuri’s hair, slicking it back wetly. “What wrong, Yuuri?”

“I’m going to fuck this up, Victor, I know it.” Yuuri whispered the words against his knees, and he was pretty sure that Victor couldn’t even hear what he was saying, but it started spilling out anyway. “I’m going to fuck this up, and then you’ll be stuck here forever.”

Gently, Victor coaxed Yuuri’s head to the side, and he took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of saltwater and seaweed. “Yuuri not fuck up,” he said quietly, and Yuuri let out a snort, but it didn’t take long for his stomach to curdle again.

“You don’t _know_ that, Victor. You’re stuck here in this tank, in this lab, and you don’t see everything that’s going on. I’m more screwed up than you realize, and once you’re out there in the world, all human again, you’ll see that there’s so many better options and you’ll…” Yuuri gulped and didn’t finish his sentence.

Victor just leaned into him, resting his head on Yuuri’s back as he continued to pet his hair. “Victor… I like Yuuri. I stay with Yuuri soon. Lots of tomorrows,” he said, rubbing his cheek softly against the nape of Yuuri’s neck.

Yuuri had no hope of stopping the tears then, and he covered his eyes with one hand and let himself cry. Victor stayed with him, softly petting and making quiet crooning sounds, until Yuuri finally cried himself out.

“Sorry,” Yuuri mumbled, trying to wipe his glasses but struggling to find a dry piece of shirt to do it with. “I’m sorry, Victor. I just… I don’t know what I’m doing. Things just keep happening and I’m not sure how to keep up. But I will get you out.” He turned to meet Victor’s gaze. “I will. Even if I get caught doing it. It’s worth it.” Then he leaned forward, on instinct more than thought, and pulled Victor into a hug.

Victor didn’t hesitate for a second before nuzzling closer, wrapping both arms tightly around Yuuri. He hummed as he pulled Yuuri in as close as he could, the edge of the tank the only thing still keeping Yuuri from falling straight into the water.

Eventually, he had to pull back, but he had a tentative smile on his face when he did. He sniffled and wiped off his face, which did more harm than good as he smeared slime and saltwater across his face instead. He looked down at the mess of his clothes and chuckled wryly. “I guess it’s a good thing I have another set of clothes here,” he said a little hoarsely. Victor cooed softly and patted his head one last time, saying, “Okay, Yuuri. Okay.”

The rest of the afternoon was quiet. It wasn’t a bad quiet. Yuuri felt surprisingly calm after all the tears, and he focused on little things instead. He checked on the new fish again, unstrapping the tank from the dolly and easing it out from under the weight of glass and water. He rolled the dolly over to the elevator to take it up later, then paused and eyed it up and down.

It was a larger dolly than the ones he had usually seen in the labs at university, but it was still pretty small compared to the gurney. If there was some way to attach… something to it, something that Victor could ride on, it might work better than the gurney. Thoughtful, Yuuri draped the strap over the handle of the dolly and left it there, deciding that he wouldn’t return it on his way out this evening after all.

He passed the rest of the afternoon fiddling with small bits of data and making tiny adjustments to the database. It wasn’t like it would matter in a few more days, but keeping busy kept him from getting worked up again.

As Yuuri packed up to leave for the night, Victor called out to him from the tank. When he got there, Victor pulled him into another hug, petting his hair and murmuring, “Everything okay, Yuuri.”

Yuuri sagged into the hug for a couple of minutes, before pulling away and giving Victor a smile. “Thanks, Victor.”

As he got in the elevator to head up to the ground floor, he realized that his fresh clothes were wet and slimy all over again. It had been worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you might have noticed, this chapter is being posted a bit later than usual. That's because I have a(nother) new job, hopefully for the last time! This should be the regular posting time for the rest of the story. I hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading!!


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: brief/minor panic attack.
> 
> I might as well call this chapter "anxiously waiting," because that's the gist of it.

Thursday was an agonizingly slow day. There was nothing to do but wait. Yuuri still had to pretend to be busy though; he had a report to turn in to Ms. Saunders tomorrow. Hopefully that would put off any suspicions until Monday morning when someone noticed that he hadn’t shown up to work. So he went about his day as if everything was normal, as if he weren’t planning on imminently absconding with Selma Corp’s most top-secret specimen.

He took a sample up to do some more testing in the morning, just to try to change things up and distract himself. He purposely picked a workstation next to JJ’s, in hopes that he would go off on a tangent about Isabella for an hour or two. Isabella was hands-down JJ’s favorite topic, and he could go for ages with only the most minimal encouragement. It had the benefit of making Yuuri seem like he was doing something, when in reality his test had already finished and he just didn’t want to start another one.

Eventually JJ got distracted by the actual work he was supposed to be doing and Yuuri had no more excuses, so he headed down to his lab to look at test results and enter them into his database. Victor greeted him as soon as the elevator doors opened, but then dove down to spend some time chasing fish and rearranging some of the additional rocks Yuuri had added. So Yuuri worked in relative silence until it was time for lunch, which was spent with Victor as usual. He had started packing more in his lunch these days, knowing that Victor would be eating whatever he decided he liked that day.

Back at his desk again, Yuuri fiddled with his mouse but didn’t actually open any files to work on. He eyed the dolly that was still sitting innocently by the elevator and spun his chair in a lazy circle. He and Phichit had discussed options last night, staying up later than they should have. The end result was what Yuuri had started to suspect yesterday, though: if the loading dock was the only way out, they would have to take it with or without cameras.

Truthfully, Yuuri had already resigned himself to that. He knew that he wouldn’t be keeping his job after this was over. He was just afraid that cameras might mean Selma Corp’s security noticing them sooner and getting someone else caught up in this escape. That was the last thing he wanted. If he got caught, fine. But he didn’t want to drag Yuri and Otabek and Phichit down with him.

Huffing in annoyance at his spiraling thoughts, he got up and ventured into the crowded back of the lab, where piles of miscellany and outdated equipment had somehow accumulated, even after the thorough cleaning Mr. Brum and his crew had given the room. Victor ventured to the surface after Yuuri had spent several minutes grunting and heaving things around, trying to find something useful. He could have sworn he had seen one of those massive, throne-like desk chairs back here earlier.

“Yuuri?” Victor called, straining over the edge of the tank to try to see what Yuuri was doing.

Yuuri waved his arm at Victor and yelled, “Just looking for something!”

A few minutes later, he found it and dragged the large chair out of the pile and toward his desk. He stood back and examined it more closely once it was out in the open. The chair was built of solid wood and had deep, worn cushioning on the seat and back. The cross-bracing between the legs was parallel to the floor, which Yuuri hoped would be useful in stabilizing it, and the armrest were large and curved, leaving a wider than normal space for its occupant. He gave the chair one more look and nodded in satisfaction. It should work.

“Chair?” Victor questioned, flipping his tail about impatiently. “Yuuri has chair,” he pointed out, very logically. Victor looked dubious about the quality of this one, giving it a sneering appraisal. Yuuri agreed; it wasn’t the most attractive piece, and he had plenty of questions about how it ended up in the building in the first place, but it would work much better than his own roll-y desk chair for tomorrow’s purposes.

“This chair is for you, Victor,” he finally replied, brushing cobwebs and dust off the seat.

“No,” Victor replied instantly, rearing back slightly. He looked absolutely offended. “Not for Victor,” he insisted.

Yuuri laughed. “It’ll only be for a little bit. Just long enough to get out of here.”

Victor perked up at that. “Victor and Yuuri leave tomorrow, yes?”

Yuuri fetched the dolly and strap as he absentmindedly answered Victor. “Yes, tomorrow. But not until late in the day.”

Rolling the dolly right up to the back of the chair, Yuuri tentatively tilted it back, pleased to see that the dolly scooped the chair up right under the cross-bracing as he had hoped it would. Gleefully, he began strapping the back of the chair firmly to the dolly, jiggling and twisting to make sure everything was secure. He wheeled the chair around a few times for good measure, and was quite pleased with the result.

When Yuuri tucked it away beside the lift, Victor was pouting at him. Yuuri paused and stared up at him. “What?”

“What _time_ for leave tomorrow?” Victor held up Yuuri’s watch, dripping water everywhere. “Yuuri show me?”

Laughing, Yuuri headed up the stairs and settled in for the afternoon with Victor, reviewing his numbers and trying to explain why there were twenty-four hours in a day but only twelve numbers on the watch. Time passed a little more quickly that way, and soon enough Yuuri had wasted the rest of the afternoon with Victor.

Victor grabbed his hand as he stood up to get ready to leave. “Tomorrow, Yuuri? I leave with Yuuri tomorrow?”

Yuuri knelt back down beside the tank and took both of Victor’s hands in his. “Yes. We’re leaving tomorrow. I won’t leave without you, I promise.”

Victor keened softly and tipped his forehead to rest against Yuuri’s.

Yuuri clenched his hands tighter around Victor’s. “I’ll be back in the morning. Do you remember the number?”

Victor whined but responded, “Seven. Seven tomorrow.”

“Right. It will go past seven once today, and then at the next seven I’ll be here. And I won’t leave again until we leave together.” Yuuri had been planning on working in the main lab some tomorrow, just to keep busy and keep up appearances, but he decided right then not to. Victor needed him much more. He would pack lunch and supper and not leave the lab all day if it made Victor feel better.

Victor nodded slowly, eyes squeezed shut. “I leave tomorrow. With Yuuri,” he whispered.

“I promise,” Yuuri repeated.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, Victor clinging to Yuuri in silence, until finally Victor relinquished his hands and dove down into the depths of the tank. Yuuri gathered his things and left quietly.

~*~

That evening was spent with Phichit working out all the final details of the plan. Ciao Ciao had come through with a house in the next town over where they could camp out for a while, and Phichit had bought a dubious-looking van that was parked on the street below for the drive tomorrow night. Otabek had confirmed that he was ready with whatever treatment he was giving Victor. Yuri was apparently insisting on coming along even though, strictly speaking, he wasn’t needed for anything. No one had the nerve to tell him no.

Yuuri’s only worry was getting Victor from the lab to the loading dock. Everything else was being handled.

It took a long time for him to get to sleep that night.

~*~

The next morning, Yuuri made sure he was not even one minute late to the lab. Phichit had fixed breakfast that morning, and was giving him a million different reminders that Yuuri really didn’t need, but Yuuri brushed him aside and pushed out the door. “Text me anything important!” he called out before the door slammed behind him. He didn’t want Victor to think for even a second that Yuuri wouldn’t be there this morning, that Yuuri would leave him there to rot. He couldn’t do that.

When the elevator doors opened on floor B2, Victor was waiting at the top of the tank, watch in hand. He beamed as soon as Yuuri flipped on the lights. “Yuuri, not seven yet!” he declared, holding the watch aloft.

Good, he had managed to arrive early even with the distractions. “Good morning, Victor!” He waved, trying to catch his breath after rushing from the bus stop and through the lobby to get here. “Are you ready for today?”

“Yuuri, when we leave?” Victor asked, leaning so far over the edge of the tank that Yuuri was worried he might slip right out.

“Not until this evening,” Yuuri said, dropping his stuff on his desk and rushing up the stairs, hoping that Victor would stop leaning out so far if he was up there. “It’ll be a while still.”

Victor pouted and held out the watch as he drifted over to the stairs to meet Yuuri. “But what number?”

“Eight o’clock.” That was the time they had settled on, late enough that everyone should be gone, especially on a weekend, but early enough that the heavier night shift security hadn’t arrived yet.

“Eight,” Victor murmured, examining the watch closely. “But eight soon, Yuuri.” He looked up quizzically and offered the watch to Yuuri.

“Well,” he said, sagging down to the catwalk and unbuttoning his coat. “It’s eight in the evening. The next eight is morning, and then it has to go around on more time. Remember when we talked about morning and evening yesterday?”

Nodding, Victor pulled the watch back toward himself and fiddled with it. “Yuuri won’t leave me, though?”

“No, I won’t leave you here, Victor.”

~*~

Victor was grumpy and restless for the rest of the morning. He vacillated between excited, anxious chatter about leaving and drifting about the tank with a blank expression that scared Yuuri just the smallest bit. It would be better after they got out of here, though. The wait was wearing on both of their nerves.

Lunch made things a little better, a normal routine for both of them, and Victor calmed some as he nibbled on the grapes that Yuuri had made sure to pack. He leaned his head against Yuuri’s shoulder and sighed. “Thank you, Yuuri,” he whispered, his breath warm against Yuuri’s neck.

Yuuri laid his hand on Victor’s hair and continued eating his sandwich, reveling in the brief peace.

It couldn’t last forever, of course. The afternoon dragged. Yuuri forced himself to write his report and send it to Ms. Saunders, to maintain his illusion of everything being normal, but it took almost twice as long as usual. Victor splashed in his tank more than usual and constantly asked Yuuri to check his “numbers” for him. After he finally managed to send in the report, though, Yuuri no longer knew what to do. Any work was fruitless, and he was too restless to focus on it anyway.

Instead he camped out on the catwalk, using his coat as padding, and watched silly YouTube videos on his phone with Victor hanging over his shoulder. They had to pause the videos often so that Victor could ask questions about everything in the video he had never seen in real life, and it ended up being an educational distraction for both of them for a few more hours.

From the floor of the lab, his computer dinged with a new email, and tension clutched tight in his chest. It was already getting late for a Friday at the office and so few people emailed Yuuri anyway. Victor noticed his distraction and poked his cheek with a questioning hum, as the video on his phone continued playing unwatched.

“I just… need to check something,” Yuuri murmured, stumbling to his feet on half-numb legs. Back on the floor, he dropped heavily into his desk chair, wiggling the mouse impatiently to wake up the screensaver. He had a response from Ms. Saunders. She usually didn’t reply to his reports until late on Monday. He gathered his nerve and clicked on the subject line.

_Thorough report as always, Dr. Katsuki. I’m looking forward to the results from the more in-depth tests we discussed earlier. I have forwarded your results to Mr. Alfaro and he is very intrigued. Would like to visit sometime next week. Please indicate some days and times that would work best for you. Madelyn Saunders, Facility Director_

Yuuri’s mind whited-out for a few minutes. He could hear Victor questioning him in the background, but the words blurred together. There wasn’t enough oxygen in the air, he thought frantically, fingers clenching spasmodically on the edge of the desk.

 _No._ No, he told himself, squeezing his eyes shut and forcing long, deep breaths. He couldn’t panic right now. He couldn’t. He could panic _later_ , when they were out of here and safe. But he couldn’t panic _now_. He still couldn’t make out what Victor was saying, but he called out an “I’m fine!” It wasn’t true yet, but he would make it true. He would.

It wasn’t anything to panic over, he realized as he made himself read it again. If they had to stay another week, it would be panic-worthy. But by Monday, they would be gone. He didn’t have to respond and he wouldn’t have to do any more tests and Mr. Alfaro would never come to visit this lab—or if he did, it wouldn’t be to see Victor. He sat for a few more minutes, taking slow, calm breaths, and then he logged out of the computer and shut everything down. He was off the clock and done with this job.

Calm again, or as calm as he could be, Yuuri took the supper he had packed up to the catwalk and laid out their meal. Victor picked at his food once more. “Only a couple more hours, Victor,” Yuuri assured him as he pulled out the watch yet again. “It’s not much longer.”

Victor nodded and rested his head in the crook of Yuuri’s neck.

“You seem tired,” Yuuri said quietly, brushing some of Victor’s hair out of his face and tucking it behind his ear. “You could sleep for a bit.”

Victor shrugged, but didn’t move from his position, and Yuuri let him be, tipping his own head back against the edge of the tank and closing his eyes for a bit. It had been a long week, and an exhausting day, even if nothing had really happened. He hadn’t even done any work. But the wait was difficult.

At seven o’clock, he roused long enough to make sure all of his things were packed and ready. He tucked the last few jars of slime into his bag, even though it made it bulge quite a bit. He wasn’t sure how long it would be before Victor was fully human again, and the slime would help make things easier while he was out of the water for such a long time. Even though these days he spent half of his day half out of water, Yuuri had seen him smear the stuff on himself every evening when he left.

Once everything was ready and triple-checked, he pushed the gurney onto the lift and went up. It had been a while since Victor had been out of the tank, and it took them a few minutes to slide him over the edge, but they managed. The ride down was quick and silent, and the transfer into the dolly-chair contraption relatively easy. Victor tucked his tail up as much as he could, and they made a couple of quick circles around the lab to get used to it.

Yuuri took his time putting on his coat and slinging his bag over his shoulder before checking his phone. It was 7:39. Almost time.

They waited by the elevator, Victor shivering slightly in the open air. Finally, Yuuri’s phone buzzed. It was a one-word text from Phichit that just said, _ready_.

It was finally time. Yuuri took a deep breath and pushed the button to summon the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> .........sorry/not sorry for the cliffhanger? The good news is that you only have to wait one more week for the Escape! Thank you as always for the wonderful comments; I swear I'm gonna get caught up on them sometime soon. 😅


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: some stress-induced tears and a bit of pain
> 
> Who do you think is more excited about this chapter: you all wanting to read it or me wanting to see your reactions?? 😍

It was an act of courage, pushing the chair-dolly contraption into the elevator and swiping his badge to start it up. Victor had his arms wrapped tightly around his tail to keep it from dragging and, Yuuri thought, in an attempt to keep himself calm. Yuuri understood the urge. His own hands gripped the dolly’s handle so tightly they turned white under the pressure. He took slow, deep breaths to try to keep himself from hyperventilating.

He flinched when the elevator doors slid open again. The lights in the main lab were dimmed, and he leaned out carefully to make sure it was empty before backing the dolly out of the elevator. No one was in sight, and the lab was eerily quiet. He could hear, once in a while, a faint thump from one of the habitats, but the glass was thick and well soundproofed, so he wasn’t sure which creature was active. It didn’t matter, anyway. All that mattered was getting across the lab and into the service elevator.

The floor had never seemed so big before. The path to the other elevator seemed endless and circuitous as he maneuvered the dolly around workstations and between large machines. Victor made quiet whining sounds when they passed near a table full of packaged surgical utensils, and Yuuri tried to go faster, but slowed again when he nearly tipped them both over going around a corner. God, it hadn’t seemed this difficult when Mr. Brum had brought the tank through just two days ago.

They were almost to the elevator when something fell with a clatter behind them. Yuuri froze, his hands squeezing down on the handle so tightly that he thought he could hear his tendons creaking. Slowly, he glanced over his shoulder.

Seung-gil was standing there, a stack of metal trays scattered across the floor at his feet. Beside him, Bravo stood nearly to his shoulder, his red eyes seeming to glow in the dim light.

“I-I…” Yuuri stuttered out a muted sound, but couldn’t seem to make any more words come. His heart felt like it was caught in his throat, like he would cough it up and choke on it before he could manage to speak. “P—”

Without a word, Seung-gil crouched down and began calmly stacking the trays, not giving Yuuri and Victor a second glance. Bravo continued to stare with his large eyes, panting lightly. After a minute where Yuuri remained frozen and Victor hid his face in his hands to stifle his whimpers, Seung-gil gave them a sideways glance. “Just go,” he muttered, straightening up with his stack of trays and turning to walk away.

Yuuri gasped in a quiet breath and continued to watch, but Seung-gil didn’t look back, acting as if he had seen nothing out of the ordinary. Bravo didn’t follow right away, though. His eyes seemed to bore through Yuuri, and he was, for the first time in his life, almost scared of a dog. The idea of turning his back on this creature was suddenly deeply disturbing.

But Victor reached up and grabbed Yuuri’s wrist, and Yuuri turned and began wheeling the dolly the last few feet to the service elevator. Behind them, the most haunting sound that Yuuri had ever heard rose from the gloomy lab. A long, low howl shivered in the air, causing the hairs on the back of Yuuri’s arms and neck to rise instantly. His stomach clenched uncomfortably tight and he halted midstep, unable to even blink for long, slow seconds. He recovered moments later and pushed hurriedly forward, swiping his badge with shaking hands, determinedly not looking back. He was certain, in some dark, primal part of his mind, that if he looked back, it would be very bad. They entered the elevator as soon as the doors opened and Yuuri didn’t turn around until the doors had closed firmly behind them.

A tingling started along his spine as he swiped his badge again and punched the button for the ground floor. Victor reached out and gripped his hand tightly as the elevator rumbled upward. Yuuri squeezed his eyes shut and tried very, very hard not to remember the conversation Minami and Sara had had at lunch one day, about legends of the Black Dog and portents of death, while Seung-gil had watched in silence, calmly eating his salad. When the elevator dinged and the doors slid open again, he took the deepest breath he could manage and gave Victor’s hand one more squeeze for good luck, returning to his spot behind the dolly.

“Almost there,” he whispered, and he pushed forward out of the elevator.

He could see the tiny red lights of the cameras, watching them, but suddenly they seemed much less frightening than other glowing red things he had seen already, and he pushed steadily across the wide open space to the side door he had spotted the other day. Phichit and the others would be waiting outside, in the van Phichit had bought just for the occasion. Yuuri swiped his badge through the reader on the door and pushed down on the handle, only to almost choke on air when nothing happened. The handle didn’t move. He tried it again, and a third time for good measure, but the tiny blinking light refused to turn green and the door refused to open.

Yuuri could feel the absolute panic beginning to rise, up from his stomach and into his chest, like a wave of heat that scalded everything it touched. He blinked rapidly and glanced around the room, as if some solution would jump out at him, fix everything that was falling apart in front of him.

Victor tugged at his hand. “Yuuri?”

But Yuuri barely heard him, his breath stuttering in his lungs. Tiny dark spots were showing up in the corners of his vision and he continued to look frantically around the room, hoping he had missed something, _anything_ , that could help him. But there was _nothing_ , nothing was going right, and if he had to turn around now, it would be too late. They couldn’t try this again. They couldn’t go out through the lobby without the security guards seeing them. This was the plan and it was supposed to _work_ and they were supposed to be in the van by now and oh god Phichit was probably starting to get worried and what if he did something reckless and—

The door popped open in front of them, and Yuuri gulped in a huge breath of chilly night air.

JJ stood outside on the steps, with an appropriately shocked look on his face, but as he stepped closer, into the doorway, he winked. “Fancy meeting you here,” he said cheerfully but quietly. “You’d better give me a good smack to make it look good.”

“W— _What_?” Yuuri felt the panic creeping higher, and he dragged the dolly and Victor backward a step. “What are you— What do you— _What_?”

JJ stayed in the shadowed doorway, out of sight of the cameras both inside and out. “Seung-gil called me. Now get over here and give me a punch and make it look good, okay? Isabella’s going to love this story.” He grinned in that way that Yuuri was both slightly jealous of and kind of hated, that confident smirk, and even though Yuuri had no idea what was going on, he decided to do exactly what JJ told him.

He stepped forward with far more confidence than he was actually feeling, balled up his fist, and punched JJ right in the face. JJ stumbled backward, dramatically windmilling his arms and tripping over the steps, and Yuuri shoved the dolly after him, nearly tipping Victor into the gravel in his haste.

The van was waiting for them, just as Phichit had promised, and the door slid open as they rattled across the lot. Arms reached out and yanked them both in, the chair-dolly tumbling to the ground behind them as the door slammed shut, only just missing clipping one of Victor’s fins. The van fishtailed out of the lot like a drunk was driving it, and Yuuri collapsed to the floor of the van gasping.

Phichit yanked him up by his shirt, getting up in his face. “What the hell was that? _Who_ the hell was that? What took you so long to get out here? I about had a heart attack!”

Even though Phichit’s eyes were wide with genuine fear and his hands were trembling faintly, Yuuri couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up out of him. He collapsed backward onto the floor of the van, dragging Phichit down with him and proceeded to snort-laugh until he felt tears leaking down his cheeks and his stomach ached with it. Phichit just wrapped him in a tight hug and held him through it.

By the time Yuuri stopped, the van was cruising along at highway speed. “Better now?” Phichit asked, still holding him tightly.

Yuuri sniffed and struggled to an upright position. “Yeah. Sorry. Just kind of… stressful.” He wiped his face hurriedly and glanced around, only to find Victor huddled against the door looking faintly panicked. “Oh god, Victor, I’m sorry, it’s fine. Everything’s fine.”

Yuri was driving the van and kept throwing wide-eyed looks toward the back of the van. Otabek was in the passenger seat and watching everything with a sharp eye, but tactfully staying back for the moment. Yuuri scooted across the floor to Victor and pulled him into a hug, ignoring all the grime that was clinging to his slimy body.

“Yuuri,” he whispered frantically. “Yuuri, who are friends? Yuuri’s friends?”

“Yes, these are all my friends, Victor. I’m sorry, that was kind of crazy, huh? But it’s fine now. We’re safe.”

Victor slumped in his arms and nodded against Yuuri’s neck. “Safe. Good.”

They remained like that for a few minutes, comforting both of them just by being in contact, until Phichit cleared his throat pointedly.

“Sooo… going to introduce us?”

Gently, Yuuri pulled back, brushing Victor’s long, matted hair out of his face. It was turning into a mess as it dried, but they would have to deal with that later. He looked Victor in the eyes. “Better now?”

Victor nodded, his eyes flickering around at the other passengers. “Better. I am good, Yuuri.”

Yuuri smiled, then shifted so he could see everyone better and made his introductions. “Everyone, this is Victor. Victor, this is Phichit. He’s my best friend and came to help us get you out. Remember me telling you about him?”

Victor nodded and smiled shyly. “Hello Phiichit!” he said, and Phichit waved cheerfully in return.

“And this is Otabek. He’s the geneticist who found out more about you and is going to help get you back to normal.”

Victor seemed a little warier at this, but he waved and Otabek nodded in turn.

“This is Yuri. He… Well, he was the one who first figured it all out, I guess.”

But Victor was already distracted and frowning. He pointed at Yuri. “More Yuuri?” he asked and then shook his head, pulling Yuuri into a hug. “Victor’s Yuuri. _My_ Yuuri.”

Phichit giggled. “Just call that one Yurio,” he offered, trying to hold back an outright cackle.

Victor nodded in agreement. “Yurio. Hello!” He offered a tiny wave, as Yuri snarled and glared in the rearview mirror at the group of them.

“Why did you have to tell him that?!” he grumbled, but then he returned his focus to driving, muttering to himself under his breath.

Phichit was still chortling, even as Yuuri turned to him and asked, “So, what’s next?”

Phichit calmed himself enough to answer. “Yuri’s driving us to the safe house now. It’s not too far, maybe another half hour. And then, Otabek can start the procedure right away, or we can all get some rest and start in the morning. I’ll leave that decision to you and Otabek.”

Otabek and Yuuri eyed each other, then Otabek shrugged. “It’s a simple enough procedure,” he said quietly. “I’m not sure how long it will take before he is fully human again, but judging from records from the original procedure, it will be a lengthy affair. And not painless,” he added after a hesitation. “If you think Victor will be fine overnight, it would probably be better for everyone to start fresh before we begin this.”

Yuuri tugged Victor a little closer in his embrace and gazed around at the people who were willing to risk so much to help them. He glanced at Phichit. “Do you know if there’s a bathtub?”

Caught by surprise, Phichit blinked before snatching up his phone. “I’m not sure, but I can check.” It took him less than a minute of tapping at his screen to confirm. “Yes! There’s what might as well be a swimming pool in the master bathroom.” He looked up with a grin.

Yuuri nodded. “Then we’ll wait until morning. Victor and I can stay in the master bathroom until everyone’s ready.”

Leaning closer, Phichit gave him a firm shoulder squeeze. “I think you guys can have the whole master suite. Try not to spend the whole night sitting on cold tile, okay?”

The rest of the drive was spent in relative silence. Otabek helped Yuri navigate quietly in the front seat, but the back was still as Yuuri slumped against the sidewall of the van as the adrenaline drained out of him. Phichit seemed to understand his need for quiet and kept himself busy on his phone, and Victor stayed curled up in his arms. The mucus on his skin was starting to get uncomfortably dry and flaky, and Victor was beginning to squirm by the time they arrived at their temporary home for the next few days.

It was huge, Yuuri saw as Phichit crawled past them to open the sliding door, much larger than Yuuri had expected. Not a mansion, by any means, but more than a simple family home, surrounded by tall fences and undoubtedly an intimidating security system. Phichit had the security codes though, and after a bit of discussion, Otabek helped Yuuri carry Victor into the house. Luckily, between the privacy fence and the huge swath of yard, no one was around to see them awkwardly hauling a merman through the front door. Also luckily, the master suite was on the first floor and they didn’t have to try to navigate stairs.

By the time they made it down the hall, through the bedroom, and into the bathroom, all three of them had managed to gain a few bruises and Victor was clinging to Yuuri’s arms with all of his considerable strength. Yuuri would not be surprised if he ended up with some hand-shaped bruises. Finally, Victor slid with a thump into the tub and they all breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Victor scrambled in the slick tub for a minute until he managed to haul himself upright, looking sadly bedraggled and dried out. He glanced around at the four people gathered around the tub, and then focused on Yuuri, face turning down in a dramatic pout. “Yuuri…” he mumbled, looking away and flapping his tail awkwardly.

Phichit cleared his throat. “Well! There’s supposed to be some food in the kitchen, so let’s check that out. I for one am _starving_.”

“It’s ten o’clock at night! Why the fuck—” Yuri started to protest, but Otabek wrapped an arm around him and ushered him out of the bathroom without a word. The bedroom door closed behind them. Yuuri knelt beside the tub.

“Hey,” he started carefully. “How are you feeling?”

Victor bodily threw himself over the edge of the tub and onto Yuuri’s shoulder. “Yuuri, it _hurts_.” Victor rubbed his face against Yuuri’s shirt and whined, and when he pulled back, Yuuri could see how red his eyes looked. Being out of the water this long was clearly having consequences.

“Okay, just…” Yuuri glanced around the bathroom quickly. The bath and shower were separate, and he didn’t see any obvious choices around the room for pouring water over Victor’s head. He reached over and turned on the faucet, adjusting the temperature before standing. “I’m going to go get a cup or something, I’ll be right back.” Victor was already squirming around in the tub to get more thoroughly wet as Yuuri rushed to the kitchen.

The others were gathered there, talking quietly, but Yuuri ignored them, throwing open cabinets until he found a plastic juice pitcher and heading right back to the master suite. Victor was sprawled in the bottom of the tub and splashing water on his face. He had managed to bump the stopper, as well, and a couple of inches of dirty water had pooled in the bottom. Yuuri pulled the plug to let the water drain back out and helped Victor get into a more comfortable position.

“Let’s get you clean first, alright? Then we’ll fill the tub.” Yuuri set the pitcher under the still running faucet and let it fill.

Victor looked up at him with sad and tired eyes. “Clean good,” he muttered, starting to scrub grime off of his arms and chest. Then he lowered his head and started to cry.

“Oh, Victor.” Yuuri leaned over and gave him an awkward hug, then decided to give in to the inevitable. He pulled away long enough to strip down to his underwear and climbed in behind Victor, pulling him into his chest. He pet his hair for long minutes while Victor shivered and sniffed in his arms. Eventually, Victor pulled away a little bit, and they set about getting him clean.

It took awhile. Victor was covered in dust and fuzz from the chair and who knew what else from the floor of the van, all of it clinging to the crusty, drying mucus that coated his skin. Yuuri found a comb in one of the vanity drawers and spent a half hour carefully working knots out of his hair as Victor poured water over himself and scrubbed clean. “I have more slime in my bag,” Yuuri said quietly, and Victor looked over his shoulder to give him a watery smile, but neither was quite ready to move yet.

After a while longer of wordless snuggling, Yuuri clambered out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his waist. They rinsed the tub out as best they could with Victor still in it and then Yuuri left him in charge of the controls as he headed back out into the house to find where his bag had been dropped on the way in.

Phichit met him at the bedroom door and blinked in surprise at Yuuri’s damp and towel-clad state. “Um, everything going okay in there?”

Yuuri wished desperately that he could hide his flush, which was already spreading down to his chest. “Yes, everything’s good!” His voice cracked in the middle and he coughed as Phichit tried to cover up a snicker. “Do you know where my bag ended up?” he tried instead, not daring to make eye contact.

Phichit lifted his arms, showing off the work bag and duffel that he was carrying. “I was just about to drop them off.”

“Oh, yeah.” Yuuri had forgotten about the duffel bag he had packed that morning, filled with enough clean clothes and supplies to last him for a week or so. Another, larger suitcase should be somewhere in the van, containing all the possessions he didn’t want to leave behind. “Thank you.” He accepted the proffered bags.

Phichit just smiled, then he nodded to the nearby staircase. “Yurio and Otabek are already upstairs claiming bedrooms. I’ll probably lock up and join them in a few minutes. Unless there’s anything else you need?”

Yuuri shook his head mutely. Phichit smiled and pulled him into a quick hug before heading toward the front of the house.

“Phichit?”

Pausing in the hallway, Phichit twisted around to look at him. “Yeah?”

“Just… thank you.” Yuuri fidgeted with the straps of his bags.

Phichit grinned. “Anytime, Yuuri,” he said and continued on with a wave.

The bathroom was steamy when Yuuri went back in. Victor had apparently decided that a hot bath was in order and was lounging in the water looking downright blissful. “Yuuuuri,” he said when he noticed Yuuri gawking. “ _Warmer_.”

Sinking down beside the tub, Yuuri shook his head and chuckled. “Yes, that’s definitely warmer than the tank was.” He opened up a jar of slime and held it out for Victor. “Here.”

Yuuri ended up opening up another jar to help Victor with his back, and there was much wriggling and splashing involved in making sure that every inch of Victor was coated in slime again. He seemed to melt in relief when he was thoroughly covered again and he flipped his tail just a little bit in pleasure.

Yuuri wiped his hands off on yet another towel and set aside the mostly used jars of slime. “Feeling better now?” he asked, pushing wet strands of hair back from Victor’s face.

Victor was flushed from the heat and his eyes drooped, but he nodded to Yuuri’s question. “Better,” he murmured, nuzzling into Yuuri’s hand.

“Good.” Yuuri kept his hand against Victor’s cheek, letting him lean into it softly. “You’re tired, huh? You can sleep.”

Victor just hummed and drifted lower in the tub, the water slipping over his chin. Yuuri had a brief moment of panic before he remembered that Victor couldn’t exactly drown in the bathtub. With a groan, he laid his head down on the rim of the tub. “I’m pretty tired too,” he mumbled.

He didn’t fall asleep like that, not quite. He managed to get up long enough to grab the comforter and a pillow from the king-sized bed and drag them into the bathroom. He piled some more towels against the side of the tub in hopes of not ending up soaking wet during the night, and he turned off all the lights except for a lamp in the bedroom, then he curled up in the comforter and fell asleep almost instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the Great Escape™! There's still a few more chapters until they get their happy ending, but things are starting to look up. Thank you all so much for continuing to support me and this love-child of mine! 💖💖💖💖💖


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Body horror, pain, and needles. Victor's transformation back to human is not easy. For detailed spoilers, see end note.

When Yuuri woke the next morning, it was to a godawful racket and an aching neck. Victor was curled up in the bottom of the tub, completely submerged, and didn’t seem to have either problem, so Yuuri hobbled into the bedroom, changed into some clean (and dry) sweats, and slipped out of the bedroom.

Yuri and Otabek were in the kitchen, standing over what looked to be an entire carton of dropped eggs splattered across the floor. For a brief moment, Yuuri considered turning around and going back into the bedroom and pretending he had never even seen this, but instead he shuffled closer and tentatively asked, “Everything okay?”

“No, everything is _not_ fucking—”

Otabek slapped a hand over Yuri’s mouth. “It’s fine. Just a little accident. We’ll get it cleaned up.”

Yuri grunted something behind Otabek’s hand, and then pulled away long enough to say, “I’ll find a fucking mop or something,” before wandering off.

Otabek crouched down to start scooping up eggshells and goop with a dishcloth while Yuuri opted to take a seat at the counter. “Where’s Phichit?”

Rinsing off in the sink, Otabek shrugged. “He was gone when we got up.”

Yuuri nodded and huddled deeper in his hoodie. Phichit had mentioned something about getting rid of the van earlier in the week, so maybe that’s what he was doing now. With any luck, he would come back with breakfast. It didn’t seem like Otabek and Yuri were to be trusted with the task, and Yuuri’s cooking skills had been sadly neglected the past few years. And he wasn’t sure how well stocked the kitchen was. Either way, it seemed like far too much effort to move from his current perch. He rolled some kinks out of his neck and sighed quietly, resigned to waiting for Phichit to feed him.

Yuri came back with a bucket and a large sponge, and they cleaned up the remaining mess before Yuri slumped into the seat next to him, moaning as he buried his head in his arms. “I give up. This day sucks.”

Rinsing out the sponge and dishcloth in the sink, Otabek sighed softly. “The day has only just started, Yura.”

“And it _sucks_ ,” he insisted in a muffled voice.

Otabek came around the counter and leaned over Yuri’s back, gently wrapping his arms around Yuri and whispering something in his ear. Yuuri felt abruptly out of place, determinedly focusing on the counter in front of him and trying not to eavesdrop on their quiet conversation. He had wondered about the pair since their first meeting, but he had never expected it to be confirmed like this. It felt invasive to even be sitting here, with a couple who was clearly private about their relationship.

Phichit interrupted before Yuuri could begin to feel too awkward, slamming through the front door with a cheerful “Good morning! Who’s hungry?” He was carrying shopping bags from a local grocery store. “I got donuts and breakfast sandwiches.”

Yuri practically pounced on the bags, and soon they were all eating in silence, too hungry to try to make conversation. They were only interrupted when a call came from down the hall. “Yuuri?!”

Yuuri dropped his half-eaten sandwich and nearly knocked over his bar stool in his haste to get to the master bath. Victor was half out of the tub by the time he skidded through the doorway, water puddling on the floor beneath him. “Yuuri,” he gasped, looking frantic.

Immediately, Yuuri knelt down, banging his knees on the tile, and attempted to scoop Victor up in his arms. “Victor, what’s wrong, what happened?” He lost his grip on Victor’s slick arms and they both went sprawling across the floor, half lying on Yuuri’s abandoned bedding, Victor more out of the tub then in by now.

Victor clung to Yuuri, his nails digging through Yuuri’s sweatshirt and into the skin underneath. “Woke up and Yuuri…” He panted, trying to catch his breath. “You gone, Yuuri. Gone.” He tucked his head under Yuuri’s chin and refused to come back out.

Heart slowing as he realized that Victor wasn’t actually hurt, Yuuri laid back on the damp blanket, petting Victor’s back. “I’m sorry, Victor. I was just getting some food. I’m sorry.”

They stayed there for a while, until Phichit knocked on the doorframe lightly. “Everything okay in here?”

Victor huddled closer for a moment, then glanced sideways at Phichit from under his hair. Yuuri patted him consolingly. “Yeah, we’re okay.”

Phichit nodded slowly. “Um, does he need anything to eat?”

Yuuri glanced down at the quiet man snuggling into his chest and considered. “Does Otabek have any preferences? I don’t know what all this ‘procedure’ consists of.”

“Let me check,” Phichit said and disappeared from the doorway.

Yuuri stayed on the floor with Victor curled up on top of him for a little bit longer, but then he carefully maneuvered to a sitting position, pulling Victor into his lap and thoroughly soaking himself in slime. “Do you understand what’s going to be happening today, Victor?”

Victor hummed noncommittally, refusing to look up.

Yuuri sighed and tried again. “Do you… remember being human, Victor? Having legs like mine?” He wiggled his own to demonstrate.

This got a reaction from Victor as he wiggled his tail a bit and frowned down at it. “No…” He flipped his tail more and poked at it with one long nail. “Victor… I was like Yuuri?”

“A long time ago, when you were little.”

Victor nodded a little sadly. “You… fix me? Today?”

Involuntarily, Yuuri’s arms squeezed tighter around Victor’s waist. “We’re going to try. We don’t know for sure that it will work.”

Victor turned his face into Yuuri’s chest. “Then I live with Yuuri, right?”

“Yes. Yes, if you want to, you can live with me. No matter what happens.” Yuuri buried his face in Victor’s damp hair, hating everything about this conversation, about how broken and vulnerable Victor seemed in that moment.

“Okay,” he whispered, and they stayed like that until someone interrupted them again.

Things started moving quickly after that, breakfast forgotten for the time being. Since Victor was already out of the tub, Otabek took it upon himself to scrub the tub clean and sterilize it, before adding a couple of inches of water back in. Phichit gathered up the wet towels and bedding from the bathroom floor and muttered something about laundry on his way out. Yuri hovered anxiously in the doorway, looking like he wanted to offer to help but was resisting the urge. Yuuri just held Victor on his lap and tried to keep him calm.

After everything was as clean as it was going to get, they transferred Victor back into the tub, with less slipping than last time. Victor was cooperative and quiet, carefully bracing himself and not splashing at all as they lowered him in. His eyes were very wide as he took in the crowded bathroom, and Yuuri slipped closer to take his hand and squeeze it. He didn’t have any comforting words right now, but he could at least remind Victor that he was here and he wasn’t leaving any time soon. Not unless Victor asked.

Otabek had a small case with him that he set on the counter and flipped the latches. Inside, padded in foam, was a single syringe filled with some clear liquid. There was an alcohol swab, and the snap of rubber gloves, and then he carefully injected it into the meat of Victor’s upper arm. Victor’s hand clenched around Yuuri’s tighter than before, but he didn’t make a single whimper.

Yuuri pressed the cotton ball to the puncture when Otabek was done and gathering up his supplies. He didn’t toss the syringe with the gloves, instead sealing it back up in the little case he had brought it in. “Is that it?” Yuuri asked quietly.

Otabek nodded, slipping the case into his pocket. “That’s it. The injection contained a virus that should trigger Victor’s DNA to reverse the original changes. According to the original files, the changes took place over a period of roughly thirty-two hours, but I wouldn’t take that as a guarantee. He was much younger last time, which will probably change the exact effects, and I obviously didn’t have a chance to test this formula.”

Yuuri just nodded and daubed the cotton ball against Victor’s arm, checking to be sure the tiny trickle of blood had stopped. Otabek dragged Yuri with him on the way out, and they were left alone again.

“How are you feeling?” Yuuri gently combed Victor’s hair back and behind his ears, wanting to see his face clearly now that they were by themselves.

Victor nodded slowly. “Okay. I am okay,” he said quietly, nuzzling into Yuuri’s hands. “Ota… Otabek? Say what time?”

“Otabek said it would take a while. Until tomorrow night.”

“Hrmm.” Victor stiffened suddenly, shifting away from Yuuri’s hands. “Oh no. Yuuri’s watch in big tank.” He looked up at Yuuri with big eyes and suddenly seemed on the verge of tears again. “I left Yuuri’s watch.”

Yuuri felt his stomach sink, but he pulled Victor into his arms anyway. “That’s okay. We’ll buy a new one later.”

The rest of the morning was quiet. Phichit brought food at some point, and Victor picked at Yuuri’s lunch after they got permission from Otabek, although he cautioned Victor to not overeat, since there was a chance that he might get sick later. Yuuri gathered pillows from the bedroom to make a more comfortable seat for himself on the floor next to the tub, and ventured out into the house long enough to find a bookshelf and snag a couple of books.

They spent a while naming letters and picking out small words for Victor to practice sounding out, and when Victor got too restless and bored, Yuuri read out loud. It was a cheesy romance plot with lots of over-the-top antics on the part of both participants, but it made for easy reading, and the rest of the afternoon passed quietly.

Eventually, Victor’s restless energy led to him splashing the book pages with water, and Yuuri set the book aside for the time being. His voice was getting worn out anyway. He shifted to see Victor better and was surprised to find him frowning and flushed. Yuuri reached for him and found him to be hot with what could only be a fever. “How are you feeling, Victor?”

Victor moaned and shook his head, pulling away from Yuuri’s hands. “It…” He hummed in frustration and dragged his nails along the scales on his tail, shedding a few scales along the way.

“Does it itch?” Yuuri asked, hovering but hesitant to touch.

Victor nodded, shifting anxiously.

“Okay, okay, hang on.” Yuuri glanced around the bathroom, finally grabbing a dry washcloth off of a towel bar nearby. He spent the next few minutes rubbing rough circles onto Victor’s tail, which made him slump back against the side of the tub with a deep sigh, easing the itch for the moment at least. The washcloth was covered in tiny glimmering scales when he finally pulled away, and more floated lazily in the water, reflecting rainbows.

With Victor calmer, Yuuri felt okay ducking out for a few minutes, consulting Otabek on Victor’s fever and itching. It was to be expected, as Yuuri had thought was the case, but they took his temperature and left the thermometer lying out on the counter in case it was needed again. Otabek also asked quietly if he could collect a couple of samples for later, and Yuuri sent him off with the washcloth to bag and preserve as best he could. Yuuri could understand the urge to document something they would probably never see again, and since it wouldn’t hurt Victor anymore, he didn’t see any harm in it. He wondered if Phichit had already hacked into Selma Corp’s servers to get at the database he had been building. Maybe Otabek would put it to better use.

Victor settled down long enough for Yuuri to eat the supper that Phichit brought him, but Victor didn’t even try to sneak any bites of food, which was more worrying than anything else so far. All the other occupants of the house stopped by to check on them throughout the day, but Victor hunkered down in the tub and didn’t talk. Yuuri wasn’t sure whether to put it down to shyness or whether he was hiding more pain than he wanted to let on.

It wasn’t until that evening that it started to get bad though. By then, Yuuri’s washcloth rub-downs had stopped being effective. The scales shedding into the tub were enough that Yuuri had to scoop them off the surface and dump them on a nearby towel. Raw, pink flesh was starting to show in patches on his tail, and Victor just curled up into Yuuri’s arms as best he could and whimpered for hours. Sometime after night had fallen, Yuuri could no longer get any words out of him, only quiet cries and tears. It broke his heart.

At some point, Yuuri drifted off, he wasn’t even sure how. But he woke again when Victor’s claws dug through his shirt and into the skin and muscle of his back abruptly. Victor _keened_ , a piercing sound that chilled Yuuri to the core, before he shoved his other hand into his mouth and bit down hard enough to draw blood. Yuuri was dismayed to realize it wasn’t the first bite mark that covered Victor’s arm and hand. How had he managed to sleep through _this_?

Frantic, he knelt upright at the side of the tub and tugged Victor’s hand from between his teeth. “Victor! Victor, stop! What’s wrong? What—”

Victor shook his head quickly, gritting his teeth stubbornly, and Yuuri realized that he had been suffering in silence, trying not to wake everyone else. Yuuri pulled Victor into his chest, squeezing him tightly, and Victor leaned against him and sobbed. Yuuri’s eyes wandered down and he buried a flinch at the sight of the bloody water that coated the bottom of the tub now, forcing himself to continue to look. Victor’s tail was… splitting, he supposed, in two, slowly but surely, the flesh pulling apart. His caudal fin had mostly fallen off and was floating in ragged chunks at the far end of the tub. Even the webbing between his fingers was falling apart.

It was disturbing in a way that made Yuuri’s stomach churn, but he held Victor tight and ignored it, whispering comforting nonsense into his ears. After a while, the current wave of pain seemed to pass and Yuuri asked if Victor wanted to clean up some. Victor nodded against his chest and reluctantly let go of Yuuri when he pulled away to drain the tub.

Yuuri took his time with the pitcher, pouring warm water over Victor’s chest and back, rinsing away the blood, scooping out the shed scales and fins to be disposed of later. They were soft and crumbly in his hands, almost disintegrating at his touch, and Yuuri could hardly believe that these bits of flesh had been attached to a living creature mere hours ago. Still, he cleaned away the mess and refilled the tub with a few inches of water as warm as he thought would be okay. Then he let Victor pull him close, and they rode out the next wave of pain together.

By morning, they were both exhausted. Victor drifted in a state of half-sleep whenever the pain eased enough, and Yuuri was slumped over the side of the tub, his hand covered in scratches and bleeding a little from Victor’s nails. At some point, his nails had started flaking off too, the keratin growing brittle, and dark chips floated in the water along with more scales and blood. There was a smell like rotting fish in the air, but Yuuri had become mostly immune to it by this point.

“Oh my _god_.”

Yuuri jerked at the outburst from behind him. Phichit stood in the doorway, one hand clapped over his mouth and nose. Yuuri could hardly blame him. Over the course of the past few hours, the bathroom had turned into a biohazard zone.

“I’m going to get Otabek,” Phichit muttered, backing away from the room. Yuuri just nodded.

Victor roused when Otabek entered the bathroom, Yuri trailing hesitantly behind armed with trash bags and too-big yellow cleaning gloves. Otabek knelt down beside them, looking into the tub for long moments, but not attempting to touch. Finally he asked, “How was last night?”

Yuuri sighed and sagged against the tub. “Long,” he murmured. “Victor’s been in a lot of pain, which I know you said to expect, but…” He blinked when he noticed the burning in his eyes wasn’t just his lack of sleep, and managed to rub his eyes against his shoulder. His hands were covered in remnants of flaky scales and mucus. “Um, but things seem to be… progressing?” He gestured weakly at the tub, and Otabek’s glance followed.

More than just scales had sloughed off since Yuuri had rinsed out the tub. Puddles of things that Yuuri didn’t want to think about clogged the tub, slowly dissolving in the chilled water, but Victor had legs. The skin was too pale in places, a gray color that spoke of sickness, but too red in others; in some spots, Yuuri thought he could see raw muscle, so he avoided looking too closely. His feet were slightly lumpy still, with too much flesh over the delicate bone. Every once in a while a twitch would jerk through Victor’s lower half, wringing a soft groan from him and often shedding more tissue with soft plops.

“Can… can we get things cleaned up some?” Yuuri asked softly, petting Victor’s head as he shifted closer again.

Pushing to his feet, Otabek nodded firmly, then turned to accept a pair of gloves from Yuri.

They had to clean the bathroom floor first, before they could tackle the tub. The towels that were on the floor were declared a lost cause, and everything was shoved into garbage bags, which Phichit tied up and dragged out to be disposed of later. Yuri muttered and made the occasional gagging noise, but he was a hard worker, scrubbing down the floor and lower walls with grim determination. Victor started into another wave before they could get to the tub, and by the time it was done, the bathroom itself was spotless, and Victor was crying quietly again. He had spent the whole thing tucked as close to Yuuri as he could; he seemed to hate having anyone else see him like this, but there was nothing to be done about it for now.

When the latest wave had settled down, Otabek helped Yuuri lift Victor out of the tub and onto a clean towel laid out beside the tub. Yuri and Otabek went to work cleaning out the tub, while Yuuri carefully wiped down Victor as best he could.

Victor still wasn’t speaking, but he obviously hated his legs being touched. Even the slightest brush caused a hissing intake of breath and a full-body flinch, the raw skin and muscle too sensitive to bear contact. Yuuri did the best he could, wiping down his chest and back and arms with a clean washcloth, rinsing out the gunk that had gotten caught in his hair. Victor’s skin, Yuuri noticed, didn’t seem to be producing mucus anymore, the parts that had been out of the water for hours dry but not cracking. When it was finally time to lift Victor back into the tub, he left behind more lumps of skin and other things, which were quickly bundled up in the towel and shoved into another garbage bag.

However time-consuming and awkward it was, the cleaning seemed to help. That, or the change was slowing down. Victor was still tired, his eyes underlined with dark streaks, but he seemed more focused on his surroundings than he had been since sometime yesterday afternoon. He hummed gently and shook his head when Yuuri asked if he was still hurting, which Yuuri thought was probably a lie, but still an improvement over his non-responsiveness of the past day. Phichit brought in a late breakfast, and Victor nibbled at Yuuri’s eggs, his blunt nails briefly stumping him as he attempted to poke at a piece of melon.

It was better from there, the worst of it behind them. Victor’s waves of pain were shorter and farther apart that afternoon. By the time supper rolled around, Victor’s feet looked normal, though he didn’t have any toenails, and the coloration of his skin was starting to even out. Everyone camped out in the bathroom with the pizza that Phichit had gone out to fetch. Victor insisted on having his own slice, his appetite coming back full force.

That evening, Otabek and Yuuri pulled Victor out of the tub for the last time, bundling him up in yet another towel (they had had to raid the upstairs bathroom for more) and transferring him to the bed. Victor sat there, hair dripping all over the sheets, then hesitantly laid down, instantly snuggling into a pillow. Finally, he spoke his first words since yesterday, a simple, quiet “Soft, Yuuri,” and closed his eyes.

Yuuri hovered over him for a few minutes longer, but it seemed he really had fallen asleep that quickly. Yuuri stood in a daze, unsure what to do now that they had made it through. They had, hadn’t they? But Phichit coaxed him around the bed and pushed him down onto it, throwing a blanket over him before Yuuri had figured out how to protest, or even if he should.

“Sleep,” Phichit directed firmly and left, turning out the light as he went. The darkness made it real, and Yuuri fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW Spoilers: Otabek starts Victor's transformation off with an injection. Victor's scales as well as a good portion of muscle and fat underneath peel off over the course of the day, which is a painful and disgusting process.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Things are starting to look up for our boys and they're almost at the end of this long road! Thank you so much for your support and comments and kudos. Special thanks to the Mad Hatters, who always cheer me up (and remind me that it's Monday again!)


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: none for this chapter.
> 
> I can't believe we're getting so close to the end 😥

The sun was shining bright through the windows when Yuuri woke the next morning. Groaning, he rolled over and buried his head in the pillows, not ready to deal with the day yet. Yesterday had been so exhausting and…

He rolled over in the bed so quickly he got tangled in the sheets and had to wrestle for long seconds only to see that Victor was no longer in the bed with him. He scrambled out of the bed and stumbled across the room. He leaned against the bathroom doorjamb, panting but relieved to see Victor there, appearing unharmed. He was sprawled in an ungainly mess across the tile, looking grumpy and vaguely confused.

Yuuri eased into the bathroom and sunk to the floor beside him. “Everything okay?”

Sighing, Victor leaned into Yuuri and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Hard,” was all he said. Yuuri nodded and held Victor quietly for a few minutes, until he glanced down and realized that he was cuddling a completely naked Victor and blushed so hard he felt his ears start to burn.

“Uh, Victor? How do you feel about clothes?”

~*~

As it turned out, getting Victor dressed was a multi-stage process. They were both covered in dried gross things from the past two days, despite intermittent attempts at cleaning. Yuuri’s current clothes were already disgusting even though they had been clean when he put them on last night. A shower seemed the logical first step, but after explaining the process to Victor and trying to give him some privacy, which only resulted in Victor on the floor again, this time in the shower cubicle, it became obvious that he would need help.

The last thing that Yuuri had expected when this had started weeks ago was that he would find himself helping a former merman shower because he couldn’t stay upright on his own. Yuuri had to fight back his embarrassment the entire time, stubbornly ignoring Victor’s gentle pokes at his cheek with his now-blunt nails.

But the truly time-consuming part came when Yuuri realized that Victor didn’t just need a washing; he needed a _scrubbing_. Although the changes seemed to be complete, not everything had come off neatly. Just running a hand down one of his legs resulted in a small clump of dead skin peeling off, and so Yuuri resigned himself to a permanent blush and knelt down in the shower, putting him eye-level with parts that hadn’t been _visible_ when Victor had been a merman, and scrubbed at Victor’s legs until he stopped shedding. The skin was bright pink by the time Yuuri was done, but Victor didn’t seem to be in pain.

Afterward they wobbled out to the bedroom together, and Victor gratefully collapsed onto the bed, not seeming to mind that he was dripping water everywhere. _Of course, he doesn’t_ , Yuuri thought, _he lived in a fish tank for most of his life._ Yuuri gratefully wrapped a towel around himself and dragged out the duffel bag that Phichit had brought in what felt like ages ago. He didn’t have much in the way of options, but he picked out the largest items for Victor to wear, quickly tugging on a T-shirt and pair of sweatpants for himself before turning around to face the next task.

Unsurprisingly, Victor had very impressive arm and chest musculature, and he was much broader there than Yuuri could ever hope to be. He was also taller than Yuuri, and when they finally managed to struggle into a pair of sweatpants, it was obvious by just how much of his ankles and calves showed at the bottom. Victor raised a foot and tilted it this way and that curiously, but Yuuri was already holding up the shirt and coaxing his arms through, hoping that he wouldn’t burst any seams if he breathed too deeply.

The shirt was a bit snug, but it fit alright, and despite his ankles showing and the drawstring being pulled as tight as it would go, the pants served their purpose as well. With Victor dressed as well as could be expected, they could now venture into the kitchen and try to find some food.

They were lucky that it wasn’t far to the kitchen, because Victor’s coordination still left much to be desired. He leaned heavily on Yuuri, shuffling his feet across the floor hesitantly, and he seemed afraid to look away from them lest they do something unexpected. They made it eventually, and everyone was waiting for them there, pointedly not staring as they made their way to the table and collapsed into chairs with identical sighs of relief.

It was late enough that it was closer to lunch than breakfast, and Phichit was kind enough to bring sandwich makings to the table for them. They all gathered around to eat and plan.

Phichit began carefully constructing an elaborately layered sandwich. “So,” he began. “Ciao Ciao has the paperwork almost ready to go. I need to take a picture of Victor for the photo ID, but after that, we should have everything in a day or two. The question after that is… where do you want to go?” Still not looking up from his sandwich construction, Phichit balanced the final slice of bread on top then smashed it down ruthlessly, before picking it up and attempting to wrap his mouth around the monstrosity.

Yuuri glanced at Victor, who was sampling the various offerings scattered across the table, with varying levels of approval, and then looked around the table, hoping for a suggestion or… something. But everyone was looking to him for an answer. He turned pleading eyes on Phichit. “I… hadn’t thought that far? Somewhere that speaks English, I guess,” he murmured.

After chewing his mouthful, Phichit nodded and said, “If I could offer a suggestion?”

“Please do,” Yuuri inserted, even though Phichit didn’t need any encouragement to keep going.

“I’ve been doing some more digging into NuHuman and Selma Corp, and despite their _clearly_ unethical practices, I don’t think they’re very… dangerous.” Phichit squinted at his sandwich and paused to add another slice of cheese. “Not anywhere near, say, Ciao Ciao’s level of connections. Their funders don’t have any suspicious connections that I could find, and you _know_ I would have found them if they existed.” He took another bite as Yuuri watched, frowning.

“Okay, and… What does that have to do with where we should go?”

Phichit swallowed and grinned. “How do you feel about going back home eventually?”

“Home?” Yuuri blinked rapidly. “You mean… Hasetsu?”

Looking ridiculously pleased with himself, Phichit nodded.

“But…” Yuuri shook his head. “How would that work? I mean, I’m going to need a different name at least?”

“Temporarily, sure. But I don’t get the feeling that they’re going to keep hunting you for the rest of your life, right? And even if they find you in a few years, well…” Phichit gestured at Victor, who was gorging himself on the bowl of grapes and watching the conversation with wide eyes. “There’s no more merman. And I can wipe all their data on him, if I need to. There’ll be no way to go back. It’s not like they’re gonna kill you for revenge, you know? So, spend a couple of years somewhere else, maybe warm with beaches, under an assumed name, call it an extended vacation. And then you can go home. I hear the aquarium in town is still doing well.” Phichit shrugged cheerfully, still pleased with himself.

Yuuri stared down at his plate, still empty, and found himself sniffing back tears. “You really… you think I can go home?” he whispered.

The chair screeched across the flooring as Phichit shoved away from the table and pulled him into a hug. “Oh, honey, of course you can go home. Shit, I should have told you sooner. Of course you can go home.”

It took a few minutes for Yuuri to pull himself back together, and Victor ended up crowding in on the other side to give hugs too, murmuring worriedly in his ear. Finally, Yuuri laughed a little wetly and pushed them both away. “Sorry, sorry. I just figured… you know.” He shrugged, not meeting anyone’s eyes and trying not to feel humiliated for having a meltdown during lunch. Victor refused to be pushed away and ended up leaning against Yuuri’s shoulder, attempting to feed him scraps of deli meat.

Yuuri brushed off Victor’s feeding attempts and finally made himself a sandwich, hoping to ignore his crying jag. “So any vacation ideas?” he asked teasingly.

“St. Petersburg is nice.”

It took Yuuri a minute to realize the quiet suggestion had come from Yuri. He was stuffing chips in his mouth and glared defiantly when everyone at the table stared at him. “What?” he asked, spewing a few crumbs. “I lived there when I was a kid. My grandpa still lives in Moscow,” he muttered. “I only had to move to the States because of _Lilia_ and look how that turned out.”

“Wait, you know Lilia Baranovskaya?” It was only after Yuuri blurted out the question that he realized how dumb it sounded. _Of course_ , Yuri knew Ms. Baranovskaya. He worked at NuHuman, after all, even if he was just an intern. But that comment had seemed rather personal; Yuuri doubted that Ms. Baranovskaya allowed many people to call her “Lilia.”

Yuri scoffed. “Duh. She was my guardian for the past couple of years. Grandpa thought I could get a better education or some shit.”

It was hard to imagine Lilia as a guardian, even for the salty teenager in front of him. He thought back to the meeting he had had with her, after Selma Corp had contacted him. Her sharp green eyes and severe bun, her formal speech and ice-cold delivery. Yuuri had had a hard time trusting her during that meeting, and it was only the knowledge that there _could_ be someone, someone like Victor, being hurt that had convinced him to go through with it. He was glad that he had, that he had been able to help Victor, but it was vindicating to know that his instincts had been spot on.

“Russia, huh?” When Yuuri glanced over, Phichit was already tapping away at his phone. “That could work. Ciao Ciao has a contact there who could… assist with the initial set-up. We could make Victor a Russian citizen; he looks the part.” Phichit hummed and kept typing.

“Yuuri.” Victor tapped on his arm, leaning close again. Yuuri had been trying to decide whether this Russia thing was a good idea or not, considering neither of them spoke Russian, but decided to leave it up to the, er, expert for now. He turned to Victor instead. “Yuuri, I…” Victor tilted his head and pulled his hair over his shoulder. They hadn’t brushed it after the shower and it was a tangled mess that Yuuri was not looking forward to taking care of later. “My hair… less long?”

“You want to cut your hair?”

Victor considered the question carefully. “Cut… hair, yes. We make it not long.”

“Short,” Yuuri said, smiling.

“Yes, short! Like Yuuri’s!”

Yuuri chuckled. “Maybe not quite like mine, but I’m sure we can manage something.” He glanced back to Phichit. “Um, do you know where we could…”

“I can do it,” Otabek said, already pushing his chair away from the table and cleaning up his dishes.

“Oh.” Yuuri watched as he tidily deposited his dishes in the sink and began digging through the kitchen drawers, testing out the kitchen shearers with a couple of noisy snips.

They decided to do it in the master bath, since it was already the site of so many messes that weekend. Yuuri coaxed Victor out of his shirt, and they dragged in a chair from the kitchen to position in front of the mirror.

Victor was a demanding, and not always easy to understand, client, but Otabek seemed up for the task. He chopped off Victor’s hair at the nape of the neck to start with, leaving a coil of silvery gray on the floor, before brushing it out and starting to trim as Victor directed him to. By the end, Yuuri was surprised at how nice it looked, short in the back and long in front, bangs falling forward over his left eye. It made him seem older somehow; less a fey creature, more a human man. Victor grinned, meeting Yuuri’s eyes in the mirror. “I like new hair!” he declared.

Turning in his chair, he grabbed Otabek’s hands and thanked him effusively, with all the words he knew how to and a few extra. Otabek took it with his usual calm grace, gently patting Victor’s hands a couple of times and disentangling himself after a polite minute.

“How do you know how to cut hair?” Yuuri asked absently, watching as Victor leaned closer to the mirror and played with his new hair, shaking his head and pushing his bangs back and forth.

Otabek just shrugged. “I have sisters back home,” he said noncommittally, which didn’t seem to explain anything to Yuuri, but he didn’t try to pursue the question. Instead he nodded as if that explained everything.

Now that Victor had his new haircut, it was Phichit’s turn to take the perfect ID photo. They raided Otabek’s suitcase for a shirt that fit a little bit better, and thanked all the gods that they didn’t have to show anything below the waist, because Victor was the tallest of their current group. Yuuri wasn’t surprised to find that Victor was _very_ interested in the process, and once they got the formal picture out of the way, Phichit and Victor went on a selfie spree, dragging everybody into it, willing or not. At one point, Victor asked breathlessly, “Yuuri, does _your_ phone have selfies?” and was very offended when he found out that, yes, Yuuri’s phone could take pictures and yet somehow they had not done so before now.

The next two days passed slowly. Despite Yuuri trying to persuade them, neither Otabek nor Yuri called in to NuHuman that Monday or any of the following days. Otabek said that he didn’t have anyone important in his life other than Yuri who would miss him, and Yuri was pissed with Lilia and didn’t seem to care about anything other than that. After a quiet conversation with Otabek, he muttered that he would contact his grandfather in Moscow “eventually.” Yuuri felt sad that two young people were so alone that no one except their workplace would notice they had gone missing, but then he realized it was true for him as well. Other than his family in Japan and Phichit, Yuuri didn’t really have friends. Sure, he was _friendly_ with a few of his coworkers, but in the same way that he had been friendly with people in college, and none of them were around now that there weren’t classes and proximity to keep them together.

After the first day, once Victor had better control of his legs, they went another town over and hit up a big box store for clothes. To no one’s surprise, Victor turned out to be picky about his fashion, and they spent hours browsing the men’s section, and then the women’s section, until Yuri threatened to call NuHuman himself if they couldn’t at least take a break for food. After a food stop and more shopping at yet another store, Victor was satisfied enough with his selections to allow them to go back to the house.

The next morning a courier arrived with a package for Phichit, which contained all of the new documents Yuuri and Victor would need to survive for the next couple of years. They had indeed given Victor Russian citizenship, which Yuuri still wasn’t sure of the wisdom of, and had given him the last name Nikiforov. Victor claimed his passport from the pile and wandered around the house admiring his picture and practicing “Victor Nikiforov” for the next hour while the rest of them hashed out the messy details.

The flight was scheduled for Thursday, and it would take them almost twenty-four hours of travel before they arrived in St. Petersburg. Phichit was busy working on his laptop, and he already had a hotel picked out for them to stay out while they got settled, and a realtor on the line trying to find apartments in their price range. When Yuuri tried to talk with him discreetly about that subject, Phichit had just waved him off and shown him a bank account with a number that made Yuuri question, multiple times, whether it was really in _dollars_ or not. Phichit smirked and winked and eventually confessed that he had appropriated some funds from NuHuman, much to Yuuri’s horror.

“Just think of it as compensation, Yuuri. They kidnapped Victor as a child and _experimented_ on him. For almost two decades! He deserves more than this, honestly, but they only had so much in the way of liquid assets.”

Phichit wasn’t wrong, and Yuuri swallowed back any further protests. For Victor.

It wasn’t until Wednesday that Yuri made his opinions clear.

“I’m going with you to Russia,” he stated, interrupting an otherwise calm breakfast with a thump as he set his cereal bowl down too hard.

Yuuri and Phichit stared in wide-eyed astonishment, and Victor squinted suspiciously for a minute, but Otabek seemed unsurprised and continued eating his oatmeal with aplomb.

“Um, Yuri…” Yuuri didn’t know what to say to this. “We-we already have the tickets and—”

“Big fucking deal, it’s not like we can’t get a couple more. You guys will be a fucking disaster in Russia. Neither of you even speak the language! At least I still remember some, and Beka is fluent!” Yuri glared preemptively around the table.

For once Phichit seemed speechless. He hadn’t realized that this was coming any more than Yuuri had. But Victor turned to Yuuri and smiled. “Why not Yurio come to Russia?”

“B-but won’t NuHuman be looking for you?” Yuuri stuttered out, too shocked to pull together anything else. He wasn’t sure there _was_ another reason; they had already admitted that they didn’t mind disappearing. “And Phichit doesn’t have a new identity set up for you!”

Yuri scoffed. “So I’ll call Lilia and tell her I’m fucking off back to Russia. I’ll tell her I convinced Beka to elope with me.” Here Otabek coughed quietly and had to clear his throat after apparently choking on a bite of oatmeal. “There’s no way they’ll put us together with you two.”

“Well.” Phichit coughed into his hand delicately. “I suppose that’s an option. Are you sure this is what you want to do?” He eyed Otabek more than Yuri, who was staring at Yuri wide-eyed.

“Why not?” Yuri said, crossing his arms over his chest. Then he added with a firm nod, “Drug poznayetsya v bede.”

Victor smiled brightly and responded, “My druz’ya seychas, Yurio?”

Everybody turned to stare at Victor as he stole a chip off of Yuuri’s plate. “What?” he asked innocently.

Yuri glanced around the table. “Has he spoken Russian before?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused and not hostile for once.

“I…” Yuuri shook his head in bewilderment. “Not that I know of?”

Taking a more practical approach, Otabek turned to Victor and asked him something quietly in Russian. Victor started to frown as they had a brief discussion, Yuri watching with wide eyes. Eventually, Otabek shrugged and switched back to English. “NuHuman didn’t record anything about his life before they took him in, so I have to assume he knew Russian as a child.”

Phichit clapped his hands once. “That solves your language problem anyway!”

Scowling, Yuri pointed at Phichit stubbornly. “This doesn’t mean that I’m not still going with these idiots. Just because Victor fucking speaks Russian doesn’t mean he knows shit else. He’s practically a baby.”

Laying his head on Yuuri’s shoulder, Victor asked. “This is bad, Yuuri?”

“No, no, Victor,” Yuuri rushed to reassure him. “This isn’t bad. It’s just a little unexpected. I didn’t know you spoke Russian.”

Victor frowned and nodded a little. “I… forgot? I forgot I speak it. Until Yurio say it!”

“I… That makes sense, I guess.” Yuuri gave Victor a gentle hug, still feeling a little shell-shocked by the last few minutes.

Phichit had been on his phone during this, and now he set it down on the table. “Well, we can make that work.”

“Make what work?” Yuuri asked immediately, already worried by the sly grin that was creeping across Phichit’s face.

“Sending all four of you to Russia! Remember, this is just like an extended vacation. It’ll be even better with friends!”

Feeling a rising panic, Yuuri glanced over to Yuri and Otabek, but Yuri just looked smug and Otabek was nodding solemnly, and Yuuri couldn’t quite figure out his expression.

“Of course, if you’re going to tell Lilia you’re married, you should probably make it official!” Phichit continued, his smile going even wider.

“Wait, _what_?” Yuri’s eyes went wide and his face went red nearly instantly.

Yuuri couldn’t help it at that point. It was too much. He burst out laughing, and he wasn’t sure he was ever going to stop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two chapters left! There's still a little drama to go (it wouldn't be victuuri if there wasn't), but we're almost there, lovelies! Thank you for sticking with me!


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: none for this chapter.
> 
> Hello, Russia! Hello also to Yuuri's anxiety! 😅

By the time the taxi dropped them off outside their hotel in St. Petersburg, Yuuri didn’t know what day it was, and he didn’t care. All he wanted was sleep, and then maybe a shower and some food. In that order. He followed the others through the doors of the hotel, and let Yuri and Otabek handle the check-in process. Somehow Victor still looked alert and interested, watching the interaction between the front desk staff and Yuri closely. Maybe he had managed to get some sleep on one of their flights, Yuuri wasn’t sure. He just knew that he was dehydrated and groggy and was going to claim one of those comfy-looking lobby chairs if someone didn’t lead him to a bed very, _very_ soon.

Luckily, Victor grabbed his hand and started dragging him off, following in Yuri’s wake now that they had received the room keycards. He thought that maybe someone asked him about dinner, but he was too focused on the bed to process the words. He managed to kick off his shoes, drop his duffel bag to the floor, and toss his glasses at the nightstand, before flopping face first onto the nearest bed and falling immediately to sleep.

~*~

The next week went by in a haze of activity. Otabek contacted the realtor and started looking for apartments, now asking for two vacancies in the same building. Yuri started attempting to teach Yuuri Russian, with Victor’s enthusiastic assistance. Yuuri honestly wasn’t sure if he was getting anything useful out of the lessons besides curse words, but he did his best and downloaded some apps in an attempt to learn on his own.

Once Otabek found a place he approved of, they all went on a second tour. The apartment was open, well-lit, and verging on a minimalist style, although the wood accents gave it a warmth that Yuuri liked. It was exactly the kind of apartment he would never have been able to afford before, but even though he was struggling with the exchange rates, he knew that it was well within their new budget. The second apartment was one floor down, and just as nice.

A week later, they were moving in. Luckily, the apartments came furnished, but shopping was going to be a necessity fairly soon anyway. They made a quick trip around the neighborhood and discovered the local grocery and got some basics. More trips over the next few days stocked the kitchen cabinets with dishes and more dry goods, the bathroom cabinets with towels and hygiene items, and the closets with more cold-weather clothes.

Phichit stayed in contact, assuring Yuuri that Selma Corp and NuHuman didn’t have a clue where Yuuri and Victor had disappeared to. Lilia and Yuri were apparently having a long, ongoing email argument about the “elopement,” but Yuuri quickly shut Phichit up before he could elaborate. He didn’t need to know stuff about Yuri that he didn’t want to share.

Meanwhile, Victor was adjusting fairly well to his new human lifestyle. His Russian was apparently very good, although his vocabulary was a little outdated at times. Yuri would roll his eyes dramatically whenever he thought Victor was being “weird” with his Russian, but he had a surprising amount of patience when it came to teaching Yuuri the basics. Otabek had found a job already and was gone most of the day, so Yuri came up to their apartment in the afternoons to attempt to teach Yuuri, while Victor hung over the shoulders and commented on it all, much to Yuri’s annoyance.

Yuri was looking for a job, but Lilia refused to give him a reference, and he was still turning in applications at every local shop, even while Yuuri was trying to talk to him about careers and college or technical school. He turned his nose up and started quizzing him on Cyrillic whenever that topic came up. Yuuri was afraid to even try job hunting before he had a little bit of the language down, so he focused on his lessons for now, listening to Russian language learning podcasts whenever he was cleaning or cooking around the apartment.

At least, during those times when he wasn’t also teaching Victor as well.

It was amazing how many little, basic things one took for granted, simply by having grown up in a mostly normal household, but Victor didn’t have any of those little skills. He watched Yuuri in fascination as he swept the floors and cleaned the bathroom, washed and dried dishes, and took showers. So many life skills that were simply missing from Victor’s repertoire.

There was no way that Victor could get a job either right now, so it was a good thing they had the money that Phichit had deposited in their account to live on for a while. Instead, whenever Yuuri wasn’t working on Russian, he was helping Victor with “life training.” It mostly consisted of explaining all the tasks and things around their apartment, or that they had seen on a recent excursion from the apartment. There was also a lot of TV. They watched all sorts of things, mostly in English, and they would pause every few minutes for Victor to ask questions and Yuuri to stumble through answers. Victor’s English improved by leaps and bounds after that, although he also picked up some strange slang, sometimes more than Yuuri could understand. Sometimes he woke up in the middle of the night to the soft sounds of the TV, and he’d have to go and force Victor back to his own bed.

Still, they settled into something that was comfortable, something that almost felt like home. He called his family on the weekends, though they had promised to say they hadn’t heard from him if someone called asking about him. Victor was almost always there as well, pushing close and wrapping his arms around Yuuri’s waist. His mom started calling him Vicchan, and Victor started calling her Mama Hiroko, and Yuuri was never sure if the warmth he felt at that was embarrassment or pleasure.

Some days Yuuri looked at Victor and was temporarily stunned to stillness by the person in front of him. With his short hair, he looked more mature, and though his coloring was a little unusual, he blended in with their neighbors better than Yuuri did. But he was strikingly beautiful, and Yuuri couldn’t help but wonder if it was something left from his changed DNA or if he had been just as pretty as a child. Yuuri remembered that first day in the lab, the ragged frightened creature that he saw in the dirty tank, and it was hard to believe that Victor had come so far. He seemed so happy and so engaged in the world around him.

He had grown so much since that day; he was almost unrecognizable. Even if someone from Selma Corp or NuHuman stumbled across him now, Yuuri was sure they would never recognize him.

Yuri got a job as a stocker at their local grocery, and everyone was just relieved that he wouldn’t be working directly with the public. Yuuri still felt hesitant about his very rough Russian skills, not to mention his nonexistent resume now that he was no longer “Yuuri Katsuki, marine biologist,” but he started looking for a job as well, with a little assistance from Otabek.

No one expected Victor to get one first.

Victor had more or less stumbled into his job, but it suited him perfectly. Yuuri had been working hard to instill the idea of money into Victor, mainly the idea that it wasn’t limitless. But even not being allowed to _buy_ anything didn’t stop him from visiting his favorite clothes boutique at least once a week and exclaiming over each rack of items, browsing through both the men’s and women’s sections. Before anyone realized it was happening, he had started helping other customers, going on about colors and shaping and other things that Yuuri only had a vague idea about. After a few weeks of this, the owner thought it only reasonable to pay him for his services.

Of course, Victor was ecstatic about this. Especially once Yuuri explained what an employee discount was. Victor started working the next week, bringing home a paycheck and a couple new clothes items every Friday.

Otabek had helped them navigate bills and accounts and set up autopay. Victor was babbling Russian fluently now, and sounding more like an adult than a child now, according to Yuri.

Yuuri wasn’t sure why he was still here.

He had thought… He didn’t know what he had thought. When they were back at the lab, Victor had been so dependent on him, for everything. For food and company and basic care. It was just Yuuri. And he had known that wasn’t a good thing; it was part of why he worked so hard to get Victor out of there. He _deserved_ more. He deserved to meet people and see the world and not have his very life in the hands of one person.

But he hadn’t realized how unimportant he would become once Victor was confident enough to be out in the world on his own. Or how hurt he would be, not having Victor turning to him for help anymore. Or how lonely he would be, living so closely with someone, and yet not as intimate as he sometimes dreamed when he couldn’t help himself.

Maybe it was time to go home. This wasn’t fair to Victor. Or to Yuuri.

After his afternoon Russian lesson with Yuri, Yuuri paced around the apartment restlessly. Eventually he found himself in the kitchen, pulling out ingredients and baking far too many muffins. It was relaxing, following the precise measurements and mixing the batter until just the right stage. It was more orderly than cooking, a different beast, one that allowed him to shut his brain off for a while and just do what he was told. Sometimes it was easier that way.

By the time he heard the lock click and the door to the apartment swing open, there was an alarming number of muffins covering the counters. He wasn’t sure they had enough containers for them, and he started digging through the cabinets to try to find the zipper bags they had somewhere. Maybe it was time to introduce themselves to the neighbors. They couldn’t possibly eat all of these.

He was pulling the last batch out of the oven when Victor slipped up behind him and squeezed him in an enthusiastic hug. “Hello, Yuuri! I’m home.” He nuzzled at the nape of Yuuri’s neck, and Yuuri went hot with a damning blush, then stiffened and tried to pull away gently.

Victor let him go, but when Yuuri turned around to set the pan on a cooling rack, the confusion on his face was obvious. “Yuuri?” He reached out toward Yuuri but paused before making contact, his hand hovering just over Yuuri’s arm. “Is everything okay?”

Trying to force a smile but sure he wasn’t succeeding, Yuuri used a butter knife to start prying muffins out of the pan. “Fine. I’m fine, everything’s fine.

“Yuuri…”

Yuuri nearly choked on a harsh laugh as he realized that Victor knew him too well to let this go. Too well, and yet not enough… or something. A hand came to rest gently on his lower back and he slouched with a heartfelt sigh.

“Let’s talk in the living room,” he managed to squeeze out, turning around to herd Victor toward the couch without making eye contact.

They settled on the couch, and the silence settled with them, so thick and choking that Yuuri wasn’t sure that he would be able to break it. But Victor reached out and took his hand, staring earnestly into his eyes, and the words just tumbled out.

“Let’s end this.”

Victor blinked rapidly and pulled his hand back. “End… what?”

“I… no, sorry, that—” Yuuri shook his head and took a deep breath to start over. “I just mean, you’re doing so well, Victor.” He finally met Victor’s eyes head-on. “You’re doing so, so well. And maybe it’s time for me to… leave. Move out or go back home or… something. Something not here. With you.” Gods, that was awful, but Yuuri’s throat was so tight and sore and he wasn’t sure he would be able to force any more words out, so he just had to pray that Victor understood.

Victor didn’t understand. He was shaking his head, even as he reached out again, grabbing both of Yuuri’s hands in his. “No, Yuuri. No. Why? Victor, I—” He stumbled to a stop, mouth shaping soundless words as he struggled with his English for the first time in weeks. He lapsed into Russian after a moment, and Yuuri shook his head slowly.

“Victor.” He loosened one of his hands and patted Victor’s with it. “You don’t need me anymore. You can take care of yourself now. And Yuri and Otabek are just downstairs if you ever _do_ need help.”

Victor wasn’t looking at him anymore, his hair falling into his eyes, but when wet drops landed on their joined hands, it was impossible for Yuuri to ignore the fact that he was crying. “Victor, are you— I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Yuuri’s voice went hoarse.

Shaking his head, Victor tugged his hands away, the first time that he had outright rejected Yuuri’s touch. And it hurt even though Yuuri told himself that this was necessary.

“I’m just… I’m going to go to bed. We can talk more in the morning.”

It was hard to walk away when Victor was sitting there, crying in silence. It was so hard. But it was for the best, Yuuri told himself as he closed his bedroom door behind him, as he changed into his pajamas even though it was still early and he hadn’t eaten any supper. He wasn’t hungry anymore anyway.

It was for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't act surprised. You knew this was coming. Is it really Victuuri if there isn't a "let's end this" moment? Now I'm just gonna... hide until next Monday. *leaves cookies and back away slowly*


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: none.
> 
> It's finally here! I promised they wouldn't suffer for too long, didn't I? Special thanks to Aze for reminding me that it's Monday, because I completely forgot *sweats guiltily*

Yuuri had to spend some time psyching himself up before he left his bedroom the next morning. He had told Victor that they could talk more in the morning, but he still didn’t feel ready. Honestly, part of him was surprised that Victor had seemed so upset last night. Victor was so caught up in his new life, in the wonder of being human again, that Yuuri hadn’t really expected him to miss Yuuri if he left. But then, maybe it was just the shock.

He got dressed without showering, throwing on some comfy, too big sweatpants. It was later in the morning than he usually got up, but Victor wouldn’t have left for work yet, not unless he was trying to avoid Yuuri entirely. But Yuuri had to go out there soon, or it would seem like _Yuuri_ was trying to avoid _Victor_. He took a deep breath and pushed back his shoulders, trying to remember the solemn surety he had had in his decision yesterday. This was for the best. Right?

The apartment was silent as Yuuri ventured out of his bedroom. There was no sound of clanging dishes from the kitchen as there usually would be around this time. When he got to the living room, he saw why.

Victor was there, still on the couch, in the same clothes he had been wearing last night. His hair was a greasy, tousled mess, as if he had been running his hands through it all night. His eyes were so dark they looked bruised. He was cradling the phone that Otabek had gotten him in his hands when Yuuri spied him, staring blankly at the black screen. He flinched when Yuuri cleared his throat lightly to alert him of his presence.

“Victor… shouldn’t you be getting ready for work?” Yuuri approached the couch slowly, not entirely sure he was welcome.

Victor just shook his head, and Yuuri paused before he could get too close. “No? I— Should I leave?”

Shaking his head even harder, Victor glared at Yuuri for a minute before sinking even further into the cushions. “I called Irina… Told her not coming today.”

Hesitantly, Yuuri took a seat at the far end of the couch, his heart hurting at the stilted English that spoke to how upset Victor still was. “Okay. Um. Did you want to talk?”

“Yes.” Victor tugged hard at his bangs, pulling until he seemed in pain, but he stopped just as quickly as he started, before Yuuri could start to worry. He sat up straight and looked directly at Yuuri. “Yesterday you told going home. Why?”

“I…” Whatever he thought Victor might say, somehow this wasn’t it. Hadn’t they gone over this last night? “You don’t need me anymore, Victor. You have a job and—”

Victor shook his head. “No. Why you _want_ to leave? Why…” Victor paused to take a deep breath, looking down to stare at his fingers. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No!” Yuuri almost grabbed at Victor with the sudden surge of denial that rose in him. “No, Victor, it’s not you! I just… You don’t need me,” he said again, unable to come up with any other words. “I don’t…” Yuuri looked away, thinking. Why did he _want_ to leave, Victor had asked. “I want… I want you to be happy, and it seems like you are, you’re happy here, and I’m just…” _In the way, taking advantage, living off your money, taking up space._ There were so many options, and all of them made Yuuri’s chest ache. “I’m just…”

“Yuuri.” Victor slowly reached across the expanse of couch between them and touched Yuuri’s knee with the very tips of his fingers. “I like… Yuuri. Here. I… I’m happy because you… helped me…” He gestured vaguely across his body with his free hand, wiggling toes that looked chilly without socks. “But happy now because… Yuuri here with Victor.” He shook his head quickly, pinching his lips together. “You are here with me,” he repeated and smiled tentatively.

“But you don’t… you don’t _need_ me,” Yuuri tried again, certain that somehow, someway, Victor just wasn’t _getting_ it. Yuuri wasn’t good for anything anymore, now that they were no longer trapped in that lab. “You don’t—”

“Don’t need,” Victor repeated, then he leaned closer, grabbed one of Yuuri’s hands and pulled it to his cheek to nuzzle. “Want.” He pressed soft kisses to the back of Yuuri’s hand, eyelashes drifting across the skin delicately as he pressed closer.

Oh.

Yuuri’s mind fuzzed out for a long drawn-out moment, watching Victor caress his hand. He only felt like he could breathe again when Victor looked up, hand still cradled against his face, and asked, “Yuuri?”

“Okay,” he said, without even a thought behind it. “Okay, I’ll stay.”

~*~

Yuuri wasn’t sure how long they stayed there on the couch, but eventually they got hungry and Victor yawned throughout lunch, looking sheepish when he admitted that he wasn’t sure if he had slept at all last night. After they finished eating, Yuuri sent him off to bed with a kiss on the cheek, which made Victor beam and Yuuri blush. Victor tried to coax him into joining him for a nap, which made Yuuri’s blush even worse, but Yuri was still coming over for lessons in a little while so Yuuri managed to resist.

It was strange, this sudden change in their relationship, the shift from friendship to… something more, something that felt flirty and yet still real. A natural progression of their relationship, something that made Yuuri want to clasp at his chest and check that his heart was still beating when he thought too hard about it. Was this actually real? Victor wanted _Yuuri_ around? He made Victor _happy_? It didn’t quite seem possible, but he was having a hard time denying the proof.

He was still feeling dazed and overwhelmed when Yuri pounded on the door at his usual time.

“What’s wrong with you?” Yuri asked as soon as he came inside, slipping off his shoes by the door. He squinted suspiciously up and down. “You look… weird.”

Trying not to actually flail or trip, Yuuri went to gather his notebook and the children’s book he was currently reading and settled down on the couch. “I, um… No, nothing’s wrong.”

After fetching a drink from the kitchen, Yuri flopped down on the couch beside him. “Hn,” Yuri muttered, eyeing him as he unscrewed the top on his bottle of tea. “Did Victor say something to you or something?”

Yuuri must have started blushing, although he could hardly tell anymore, because Yuri nearly spit out his first sip. “Fuck, what’s that look for?”

Dropping his books onto the coffee table, Yuuri quickly waved his hands in denial. “No! It’s nothing… I mentioned something about leaving since Victor was doing so well on his own, and he…” Yuuri’s face might as well have been on _fire_ for how much he was blushing now. “He said that he _wanted_ me to stay. That’s… all.” He resisted the urge to cover his face with his hands, and instead grabbed up his notebook again and started flipping through his recent notes as a distraction.

Yuri was staring at him, drink forgotten in his hand. “What the fuck? You were just gonna leave him with here for _me_ to babysit? Tch.” Yuri turned back to his drink with a huff, spinning the bottle between his hands. “Don’t you dare leave. Idiot.”

At that moment, Yuuri had the abrupt realization that Victor might not be the only new friend he had made these last few weeks, or the only one who would miss him if he were to leave. Suppressing a smile, Yuuri nodded shortly and said, “Okay.” Then they began their usual lessons.

~*~

Things didn’t change as much as Yuuri had initially thought that they might, and honestly? He was okay with that. Their days were much the same, except they were now interspersed with soft touches that never failed to make Victor incandescently happy and Yuuri flushed with a quiet contentment. Victor continued to love his job and came home with confusing and excited stories about the days customers, and his English continued to improve. Yuuri kept studying with Yuri, occasionally going to Otabek when Yuri got too frustrated with a particular grammar point that Yuuri wasn’t getting, and he started venturing out more on his own, trying out his stuttering Russian with as much fake confidence as he could manage.

It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later that things really changed.

Victor had been acting odd for the past couple of days. He had been down to Yuri and Otabek’s place three times the day before, and when Yuuri had tried to ask about it, he just got a wide-eyed panicky look and shook his head, and Yuuri had quickly backed off. He had tried to ask Yuri about it that afternoon, but Yuri had just gruffly called him an impatient idiot and continued trying to explain how to conjugate the past tense. Yuuri had no idea how to interpret that, but he dropped it for now.

Victor was sitting on the couch when Yuuri got home from his grocery run later that afternoon. He kicked the door closed behind him and lugged the bags into the kitchen. “What do you want for supper, Victor? I was thinking…”

He turned around, and Victor was right there, inches away. Yuuri startled half a step backward before he ran into the counter and couldn’t go any farther. “Victor?”

He looked serious and moved very slowly as he raised his hands to cup Yuuri’s face. Then he leaned in and kissed Yuuri on the lips.

They both had their eyes wide open, and Yuuri felt frozen in shock. After a minute of unmoving lip to lip contact, Victor pulled away. “I… Did I do it wrong?”

Perhaps Yuuri should have thought about this before now. No, he _should_ have thought about this before now. He should have started thinking about this when Victor had told Yuuri that he _wanted_ him to stay. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he had decided to let Victor set their pace without realizing that it might not be the best idea considering his lack of experience and knowledge.

While Yuuri was caught in his spiraling thoughts, however, Victor had started to look panicked. “I’m sorry! I watched on the TV and then I asked Otabek, but I didn’t understand lots of the words he said. Yurio said I was gross. I… I did it wrong, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, no!” His brain finally catching on, Yuuri reached out and grabbed Victor’s hands to pull him close. “No, it wasn’t wrong. I was just… surprised.”

Victor buried his face in Yuuri’s shoulder and made a muffled whining sound. Chuckling, Yuuri petted his hair, still in awe of the new shortness of it, playing with the bristly bits at the back of his neck.

“Come on, we can try again?” Yuuri asked, feeling a flush start at his braveness.

He wasn’t the only one blushing though, as Victor lifted his head, looking at Yuuri somewhat shyly from under his lashes. The bridge of his nose was flushed pink, spreading out across his cheekbones. Gingerly, he cupped Victor’s face in his hands, just as Victor had done to him. Victor was just as stiff at the start of this kiss as he had been at the last, but Yuuri coaxed him gently with tiny nibbles and pecks, until he relaxed into the kiss. When they finally broke apart, Victor beamed down at Yuuri. “Wow,” he whispered.

Yuuri giggled and then covered his face with his hands, embarrassed.

“That was good, Yuuri!” Victor swooped him into a hug, lifting Yuuri off his feet a few inches. “I like, ummm…”

“Kissing,” Yuuri said, still trying to stifle his giggles. “That was kissing.”

“Kissing! Kissing is good, Yuuri.” Victor hummed and pressed his lips into the crook of Yuuri’s neck. “We should try other words from Otabek.”

“Other words, huh?” Yuuri shimmied a little deeper into Victor’s embrace, sliding one hand under the back of his shirt just to feel his warm skin. “What kind of other words?”

Victor jerks upright. “Oh! I don’t know, I don’t remember them. We could go ask!” He grabbed Yuuri’s hands and started pulling him toward the door.

“Wait, wait! We’re not going to Yuri and Otabek’s place to ask sex questions!” Laughing but also embarrassed at even the _thought_ of going downstairs to ask Otabek questions like that, Yuuri managed to detour Victor toward the couch. “You… you actually asked Otabek about kissing?”

Victor snuggled into his lap on the couch, long legs sprawling everywhere. “Yes! I needed to know why the people on the TV kept doing it. They liked it. Otabek and Yurio kiss too, Otabek told me! He told about other things, but I didn’t understand all the words and then Yurio started yelling.” Victor pouted as he informed Yuuri of this last part.

“Next time we can talk about the words, okay? No need to bring Otabek into it.” God, Yuuri couldn’t even imagine what they had thought when Victor had come knocking with questions about kissing and sex. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to look Otabek in the eyes again. Best not to let them know that Yuuri ever heard about this, for everyone’s sake.

Victor sighed and snuggled closer, his arms snaking around Yuuri’s waist as he tucked his chilly hands against Yuuri’s back. A ripple of goosebumps flooded over Yuuri’s skin as he adjusted to the chill. Victor always seemed to have some cold body part he was trying to warm against Yuuri. “We could talk about it now, Yuuri…” Victor murmured, pressing warm kisses along his jaw.

Yuuri blushed up to his ears. “Um, we could…” He coughed as Victor started using his teeth. “But maybe we should take it slow?” If his voice squeaked at the end of that, no one could blame him.

Victor wiggled in closer again, and Yuuri made a stretch for the remote, just to put on some background noise. Supper could wait awhile. Holding Victor like this was more important.

~*~

Two days later, Yuuri moved into Victor’s bedroom. They were still moving slow, but Victor whined about not being able to cuddle with Yuuri at night, and to be honest, Yuuri didn’t like it either. His clothes got hung up alongside Victor’s in the walk-in closet (although Victor’s took up more space), and they moved in the spare dresser, so that Yuuri didn’t have to go back and forth. His charger was plugged in by the nightstand, and his few hair and body products made their way into the master bathroom as well. It felt comfortable, and so right.

That night as Victor wrapped Yuuri in his arms like some kind of octopus, he sighed deeply. Yuuri was already starting to drift off but he recognized this as a sign that couldn’t be ignored. “Hrmm?” he managed, trying to keep his eyes open.

“I want…” Victor tucked his head against the back of Yuuri’s neck and mumbled something.

“Wha…?” Reluctantly, Yuuri twisted around to face Victor, squinting at him in the darkness.

Victor was hesitant and tugged anxiously at the hem of Yuuri’s shirt. “I want… a dog. The one with, ah, curly hair?”

“A poodle?” Yuuri croaked out.

“Yes, that one,” Victor whispered. “A poodle. I want a poodle.” His eyes glimmered in the dark as he searched Yuuri’s face. “Can we get a poodle, Yuuri?”

For a heartbeat, something in Yuuri’s chest froze, and then it cracked open. It had been so _long_. He cleared his throat, but his voice still sounded thready when he said, “I would love it if we got a poodle, Victor.”

Victor’s face cleared in an instant, his smile going large and heart-shaped before he smothered Yuuri in another hug. “A poodle, Yuuri! We will name her Makkachin!”

Chuckling, Yuuri asked, “Makkachin?”

“Yes,” Victor said, breath hot against Yuuri’s skin. “Makkachin. It’s a good name.”

“A very good name,” Yuuri murmured, eyes already starting to fall shut again. In the morning, he would start worrying about this conversation, about what adopting a dog together might mean for their future, but for now, Yuuri just let the happiness drift over him. It would all work out in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't hardly believe that we made it. But we did! Sea Change is finally complete, and our boys got the happy ending they deserve. ...but there's a little bit more still to come. Next Monday I will post the first chapter of a short sequel called Coral Bones. Be sure to subscribe to the series or check back!
> 
> Thank you all so much for the amazing support and encouragement and yelling and screaming and emojis. I loved every single bit of it. This has been an amazing experience, and I hope to be back with more someday. 💖


End file.
